Sakura and the Whirlwind of Discovery
by Shareon
Summary: Sakura returns to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for the 1992-1993 school year. There she starts to develop her own magic as the Chamber of Secrets is opened. A Cardcaptor Sakura continuation set in the Harry Potter universe. Sequel to "Sakura and the Scottish School of Magic."
1. 1: Sakura's Uncomfortable Revelation

Summary: Sakura returns to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for the 1992-1993 school year. There she starts to develop her own magic as the Chamber of Secrets is opened. A Cardcaptor Sakura continuation set in the Harry Potter universe. Sequel to "Sakura and the Scottish School of Magic."

* * *

Chapter 1: Sakura's Uncomfortable Revelation

The persistent tapping noise was just loud enough and just annoying enough to finally wake Sakura up. In her new semi-conscious state, the hazy mists of the dream she had been experiencing quickly burned away in the early morning sunlight.

She had apparently been thrashing about in her sleep. Her bedsheets had become tangled around her various limbs in a rather uncomfortable way. With a mostly-awakened mind it was a simple matter to untangle them and untwist her pajamas. This quickly relieved the vague discomfort she felt all over her body.

Before she could finish bringing order to the chaos which surrounded her, the tapping on the window repeated itself. Sakura directed her bleary eyes over to peer at the incessant noise. She didn't see anything too special, only a large bird standing just outside on her windowsill. The red light of the rising sun glinted sharply off of the bird's feathers.

It took a few more seconds to realize that it wasn't just the bright sunlight which was causing the bird to appear with such vivid colors; its bright red and gold plumage almost glowed with a light all its own.

The bird seemed to notice Sakura's blank stare. It flapped both of its wings twice and then returned to pecking at the window, faster and more insistently now.

"What's that noise?" Keroberos asked, seemingly just as half-awake as Sakura. He had probably been awoken by the persistent annoyance of the strange bird as well.

"I don't know. Some bird's pecking at the window," Sakura answered.

"Then why don't ya go see what it wants then?" Keroberos asked as if it were a common, everyday occurrence.

"Hoe..." Sakura complained. Nevertheless, she climbed out of her disheveled bed and made her way over to the bird. She then opened the window carefully, ready to quickly slam it shut again if the creature tried to do anything too strange.

Even with the window fully open the bird didn't do anything alarming. It hopped up onto the window frame and held out a leg towards Sakura. A piece of parchment had been wrapped around and then tied to said leg.

At the unspoken invitation, Sakura reached out and untied it. The tight knot made the act a bit harder than it could have been, but in short order Sakura had liberated the scroll.

Its missive safely delivered, the bird turned around and, without so much as a single cry, took to the air. It flapped furiously, quickly rising in the air until it was lost in the sky.

Sakura unfurled the scroll and quickly scanned it over. As expected, it had to do with Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The only messages she ever received via avian carrier were in regards to the magical school. Everybody else instead opted for a more traditional delivery system, or at least a more muggle one.

Overall the message managed to be even less surprising than the similar letter she had received a year ago in regard to attending Hogwarts. She had known this letter was coming for quite some time. She hadn't been surprised back then either, having been told to expect the letter from Kaho. This year, in addition to the knowledge that a letter would be forthcoming, she had also guessed the mechanism for delivery as well. Even the letter's contents weren't a surprise. On the whole it looked very similar to the one inviting her to her first year at the magical school.

"What is it?" Keroberos asked, floating over to hover just above Sakura's shoulder.

"It looks like the letter from Hogwarts," Sakura said.

"Why'd they have to send that now? Couldn't they have waited a few more hours? It's not like we can do do much about it in Japan," Keroberos complained. "So, have you decided yet?"

"I think so," Sakura said. "I'm going to go back to Hogwarts."

Keroberos nodded, then asked, "Then have ya told 'em yet?"

"No," Sakura admitted.

When she had first returned to Japan she hadn't said anything about the coming school year because she hadn't known what she was going to do. The coincidence of timing with the Japanese school system's summer break had removed the immediate need to decide what she was going to do in the future: did she want to go back to Hogwarts, or did she want to return to a more traditional education in Japan? She knew what she wanted to do. She had learned so much and had so much fun in the United Kingdom, albeit had so many trials and tribulations as well, that of course she wanted to go back to Hogwarts. The only issue was what that meant in terms of her family and her future.

Once she had concluded that one more year abroad wasn't enough to cause insurmountable problems back in Japan, she had told herself she wouldn't say anything because she didn't know if the school would allow her to return for a second year. Now, with the school supply list in hand, she knew she was rapidly running out of reasons to wait.

"Ya better tell 'em soon," Keroberos lightly chastised her.

"I know. I was just waiting for..." Sakura said, then shook her head, "it doesn't matter. I'll tell them today."

The main reason she had waited so long was that she would need to tell her father of her decision. She expected he wouldn't present too much of an issue directly. He had always being very respectful of Sakura's decisions. However, Sakura felt that she owed an explanation for the decision as well. That in turn meant finally telling him about magic. She suspected he knew, and she knew he suspected, but that didn't make the prospect of the upcoming conversation any easier.

"I see," Keroberos said. "Well, let's take a look at that list then."

Sakura turned her attention back to the letter she held in her hand. Keroberos hovered just behind her shoulder so he could read it at the same time. Her English was far better than it had been a year prior, as could be expected after a full school term spent poring over textbooks and scrolls. She was able to quickly skim over the missive. The instructions to board the Hogwarts Express were well known to her, as was the beginning of the section explaining school supplies. She only paused when she hit an unfamiliar English word, asking out loud, "What does this word mean? 'Gadding?'"

"'Gadding?' Where do ya see that?" Keroberos asked.

"Right here," Sakura said, releasing the bottom of the scroll to point at the entry. This proved to be a mistake as the freed end of the scroll rolled upward into a loose, but unreadable, curl.

"Hoe," Sakura said as she unrolled the scroll again. "Down there, in the book list. Do you see? 'Gadding with Ghouls.'" The English phrase sounded out of place in the steady flow of Japanese.

"No idea," Keroberos admitted. "What's with all these books by Gilderoy Lockhart?"

"I don't know. I guess he's a very important wizard or something," Sakura said.

She released the end of the scroll, letting it roll back up into a loose curl again. The timing of the message delivery was actually somewhat auspicious. She was going to be meeting Tomoyo later today, and she was sure her friend would like to take a look at the genuine magical letter. She wouldn't be surprised if Tomoyo asked to keep it as a souvenir.

That was for later, though. There was still time to catch a bit more sleep before the day began in earnest. She tossed the scroll onto her desk and went back to her bed.

After some hesitation, Sakura changed her mind and decided that getting an early start on the day might be a better idea. Now that she had made up her mind to tell her father about her magic, she doubted she'd be able to relax enough to sleep anymore anyway.

* * *

If only a Sakura Card would go rampant. That would be most convenient. That, or maybe Yue would get it in his mind to re-test Sakura. She had certainly never thought that there would be a time when she would look back at her confrontation with Eriol with longing at how much more relaxed that situation had been.

"Whatever it is, I promise that I'll always love you," Fujitaka assured Sakura. He obviously could see her nervousness. Not that that was at all surprising. She was fidgeting so much that even the weather lady on the television set across the room could probably tell she was nervous.

Sakura had put it off for all these years, surely she could put it off another day.

No. It'd been far too long already. She wanted to go back to Hogwarts, and her father should know the real reason. Moreover, he deserved to finally know the truth of everything. Or to finally have the truth confirmed, if he already suspected.

She took a deep breath and said as firmly as she could, "I can do magic."

"Of course you can, Sakura-san," Fujitaka said, without batting an eye. "Every day with you is magical."

"No," Sakura said, correcting her father. "I mean I can do magic."

"Is this some kind of game? What do you need me to do?" Fujitaka asked, providing another convenient excuse if Sakura wanted to back out.

Sakura was sorely tempted to take the excuse, but instead bravely pressed on. She said, "No. It's true. I can do real magic. Watch."

She pulled out the Key and the Sakura Cards, which she always carried around with her ever since that escapade with The Song. She chanted the phrase which she had long memorized through repeated use, "Key which hides the powers of stars, show your true power before me. Under the contract, Sakura commands you. Release!"

The Key quickly grew to a more useful size, at which point Sakura threw The Fly she already had in her hand into the air. She chanted out, "Fly, grant me wings so I may take to the sky. Fly!"

As has become second nature to her, Sakura brought the Key down. It intersected the boomeranging card, and she channeled her magic through it. This caused a pair of wings to manifest on her back. At that point, she easily took to the air. She hovered a few feet off the ground, which brought her eye-level to her father.

"See? Like I said. Magic. Real magic," Sakura said.

"That's incredible, Sakura-san," Fujitaka said, his face remaining remarkably calm. Either he had already suspected, or he had an amazing poker face. Possibly both. His only reaction had been a quick flick of his eyes down to Sakura' feet. "How long have you been able to do this?"

"For a while," Sakura said, eyes turned down.

"Can anybody do it? Where did you learn it?" Futjitaka asked.

"From... well... Kero-chan. Kero-chan?" Sakura called out, signaling for the plushie-lookalike to fly in from the next room over.

"Heyo!" Keroberos called out to Fujitaka with a big wave.

"Hello," Fijitaka said back, much less flamboyantly. Then, turning back to Sakura, he said, "So for a few years now. So why are you telling me this now?"

"Well... you see..." Sakura said, still nervous. She held out the scroll she had received in the morning. "I want to go back to Hogwarts, and I thought you should know the real reason why. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It's a magic school, you see."

Fujitaka took the scroll but only gave it the most cursory of glances. It was all in English so Sakura had no idea if her father was able to read it or not. He instead simply asked, "Okay. So is there anything in particular we need to do to let them know you're going back?"

So in the end, that was it. No big shock at the revelation that magic was real. No angry accusations of why she had put herself into danger so many times collecting the cards. No big protest about her having kept it a secret from him all this time. Nothing Sakura had feared throughout these weeks and years had happened.

In retrospect, Sakura wasn't sure why she had thought her father would have had a major reaction. After all, both Tomoyo and Toya had had a remarkably subdued reaction upon finding out the truth that magic existed. In fact the only person who seemed to have been surprised at the discovery of magic had been Sakura herself, and half of the surprise at her initial encounter with magic was due to Keroberos's Osaka accent.

All in all the announcement turned out to be rather anti-climactic, which suited Sakura just fine.

* * *

Sakura's relief after telling her father the truth about her magic was almost indescribable. It felt like the weight of the world had been lifted from her shoulders.

It had the added benefit of simplifying her life on a more practical level as well. For example, she no longer needed to surreptitiously hide her magical practice in the solitude of her bedroom.

It was true that Sakura had been warned not to use any magic over the summer. It was equally true that she wanted to stay in practice. More than that, she wanted to share some of her experiences from Hogwarts Castle with Tomoyo in a way that was more substantial than just hearsay stories.

It was slow going at first. Sakura was worried what might happen if she pulled out her wand and started transfiguring things left and right. She had done some magic over the previous winter in Japan, but that had been before she had received the sternly worded letter and admonition to not use magic over the break prior to leaving Hogwarts Castle for the summer. She decided to start out slowly to see what would happened.

The first thing Sakura did, in the privacy of her home, was a bit of astronomy. She figured that if anything untoward happened she could pass it off as a muggle thing she was doing. The excuse would be equally valid whether she was caught by a wizard or witch or if she was caught by a muggle. Despite her reasoning and her prepared explanation she was still a bit nervous with her star charts spread out while she compared them to the dimly lit sky. As seconds ticked by into minutes with nothing happening, she started to relax. She wasn't sure what she was expecting. Maybe a siren to go off or maybe to be transported instantly to the headmaster's office at Hogwarts. However nothing of note happened at all except for her first realization exactly how little she could see of the night sky in Tokyo. That realization brought with it a profound sense of disappointment.

The next thing she tried was some charms. She told herself that after all of her stunts and debacles with the Clow Cards in what seemed like a lifetime ago, there was no way that casting a simple Wingardium Leviosa charm could cause anybody any problems. Despite this she still held her breath for a few seconds after her first charm. When nothing untoward happened as a result she then tried a Lumos charm, and then others.

She had been quick to move on to potion brewing after that. Excepting that she could only attempt to make a very limited number of potions given how few ingredients she had access to, nothing exceptionally notable happened then either.

Once she was satisfied that she could perform at least some demonstration of what she had learned without causing a massive problem, it had been an easy thing to include Tomoyo and show her what she had been doing at Hogwarts.

The first thing Tomoyo had wanted to see, though, was Sakura's Hogwarts uniform. Strange, but not too surprising. Sakura knew her best friend well enough to easily be able to predict this, and thus she had brought her school robes with her to Tomoyo's house. She obligingly donned a shirt, skirt, robes, and tie just like if she had been in the spacious stone hallways of Hogwarts Castle.

The uniform did not meet with Tomoyo's approval. It was far too plain for her strict fashion sense. About the only thing which did catch Tomoyo's attention was the Ravenclaw insignia, and while the intricate design was certainly impressive, it wasn't nearly cute enough for Tomoyo's taste. Even the addition of the matching scarf Sakura wore in cold winter months did little to appease Tomoyo. She was every bit as disappointed as Sakura had expected her to be.

With the more mundane demonstrations out of the way, Sakura and Tomoyo then started playing around with some of the magic Sakura had been learning at Hogwarts. This had mixed results. Sakura's charms, potions, transfigurations, and everything else worked just as well as always. In fact her charms seemed to be doing better than ever, now that she was out of the strict eye and constant stream of corrections from Professor Flitwick. The downside was that Tomoyo was extremely limited in what she could do in their play sessions. Extremely limited meant that Tomoyo couldn't really do anything even hinting at magic.

Given how Tomoyo was a muggle, Sakura would have been shocked if Tomoyo had been able to cast a charm. There was no way for her to wave a wand and cause a spark of light to appear. Tomoyo's inability to cast something like a Ventus charm was entirely expected, and they just played around for the sake of having fun in that regard.

Somewhat less expected were potions, and Tomoyo's equally unsuccessful attempts at brewing them. Unlike charms and transfigurations, potions seemed positively mundane. It was like cooking: mix flour with liquid and get a result, only in the case of potions it was more like mix flower with liquid and get a result. Magic seemed to have nothing to do with the equation.

Despite that, Tomoyo's attempts at a potion that Professor Snape had described as "the most boring of trivialities" had been utterly without effect. It hadn't been a spectacular failure. Nearby metal objects hadn't bent like rubber and eyebrows hadn't disappeared in vermilion puffs. Just absolutely nothing happened at all.

The first time could have been chalked up to some esoteric difference in the ingredients between Japan and the United Kingdom. The second time could have been some mistake Tomoyo had made which had gone unnoticed. Both were easier to accept than the unexplained quandary of why muggles couldn't craft potions. Eriol had even said that muggles could use potions, so unlike wands there couldn't have been some strange magical core or something else in play.

They decided to try one last experiment. They went through a crafting session side-by-side, Sakura doing the exact same things as Tomoyo, just to see what the results would be.

"Now the book says to stir it with your right hand," Sakura translated from her Potions book. Both stood over the stove in the kitchen, carefully watching over their simmering concoctions.

"Like this?" Tomoyo asked, gently stirring what appeared to be a thin broth in the steel pot in front of her with the glass rod she held in her hand.

"Right, just like that," Sakura confirmed as she mimicked the procedure herself in a similar pot in front of herself.

"How long are we supposed to stir it for?" Tomoyo asked.

"It says four turns, and then... hoe?" Sakura started replying before being taken off guard by the pot in front of her turning a milky white.

"What is it?" Tomoyo asked, looking into Sakura's pot while she kept stirring her own. Hers maintained its clear look of herbal soup. "Yours changed already? What did you do?"

"Just what I said out loud. Why didn't yours change too?" Sakura asked as she turned off the burner underneath her pot.

"I didn't see any difference between ya both," Keroberos commented from where he hovered off to the side.

"Maybe it'll just take a bit longer for mine?" Tomoyo suggested as she kept stirring.

"It should have changed by now," Sakura said pessimistically. She turned off Tomoyo's burner as well.

What made Sakura confused and pessimistic was nothing. Specifically she felt absolutely nothing from the pot in front of Tomoyo. In Potions class she would always be surrounded by vague impressions, like a sense of urgency right before Anthony's pot would erupt in a cloud of purple gas, or a feeling of completeness when she would add a pinch of belladonna to a simmering cauldron. Even now she felt a vague sense of discomfort from her own potion. However, from Tomoyo's pot Sakura felt absolutely nothing, despite the fact that her friend had done done everything exactly the same way as Sakura had done.

"Why do you think it doesn't work for me?" Tomoyo asked.

"Got me," Keroberos said.

"Maybe somebody back at Hogwarts will know," Sakura speculated. It was yet another thing on her large and growing list of things to find out about once she returned to the United Kingdom.

Their latest experiment a failure, Sakura and Tomoyo quickly cleaned up the remnants of their potion making adventures. Sakura's family might all know about her magic now, but that didn't mean that she could leave things strewn about everywhere. Besides, it was Toya's turn to cook dinner today, and she wouldn't put it past her brother to tease her for leaving the kitchen a mess.

With their latest, and last, potions experiment completed, they were left with the question of what to do next. They still had a bit longer before Tomoyo would be expected to return home. Ultimately Sakura decided to return to practicing her charms, that being her weakest area and thus her standard fallback of what to study.

Sometimes during these practice sessions Tomoyo would thumb through Sakura's textbooks, but her limited English wasn't proficient enough to get more than a basic gist of the texts. Much more frequently, Tomoyo would mimic the motions and words Sakura used instead. They had no effect, but it didn't matter. Tomoyo just enjoyed spending time with Sakura. So while Sakura waved the Key about, casting the various charms she had learned the previous year, Tomoyo had Sakura's wand in hand and was doing very much the same.

Using the Key to practice sometimes had actually been Keroberos's suggestion, and Sakura appreciated it. She found it far easier to feel, and thus control, her magic when she used the Key than when she used her wand. Feeling how the words, the motions, and the intent behind the charm constricted how her magic manifested gave her insight into what should be happening. It made it possible for her to notice when something wasn't quite right and something slipped through what she had intended. This knowledge was helpful for when she went back to using her wand and she felt like it had led to some significant improvements in her charm casting. It made the occasional practice with the Key very much worth it, even if using the Key left Sakura feeling noticeably more drained than when she used her wand.

"Lumos," Sakura said, waving the Key in the loop in the air that both Professor Flitwick as well as "The Standard Book of Spells" had described. Interestingly enough "The Dark Forces" also described the Lumos charm, but failed to describe any specific wand movement.

Sakura could feel her magic going through the Key and collecting in front of her, as she had felt countless times before. They consolidated into a single point, resulting in a bright pink almost crystal-like object appearing in the air in front of her. She was able to change the color of the charm as she summoned it, but its natural color seemed to be pink. Sakura liked the shade so usually didn't bother.

Right beside her, Tomoyo waved Sakura's wand in the same loop and said, "Lumos." She spoke with a distinct accent, pronouncing the word more like "ruemosu." Unsurprisingly, nothing happened there.

Sakura let the light disappear, before re-summoning it again. She would repeat this a few more times before going on to other charms, like the Ventus charm or the Wingardium Leviosa charm.

They continued like this for about an hour before Tomoyo had to return home for the day.

* * *

"I'm back," Sakura announced as she entered her home.

The announcement turned out to be unnecessary. Her brother was apparently still out working a part-time job and her father was nowhere to be seen. Given the time of the day, she suspected he was out grocery shopping or something. Keroberos was of course with her, meaning that there was nobody to return the traditional greeting.

With her home to herself, Sakura went to pick up the pile of mail which had been delivered earlier in the day.

She quickly flipped past the first two missives, both bills, before the third one caught her attention. The carefully written yet still almost illegibly slopping address on the cover of the letter marked it as having been sent by Anthony. It was a look shared by all of the letters from her British friends.

Unlike the messages delivered by bird, each letter from one of her British friends had on the front of their envelopes the carefully written Japanese symbols indicating Sakura's address. The British people copying the unfamiliar symbols from Sakura's already imperfect handwriting resulted in a very distinctive, if barely legible, appearance. As a result, all of their envelopes carried the same look of unnaturalness to the casual Japanese eye. It was a testament to the post office's abilities that the letters still managed to make it to her.

Anthony wrote the most to her over the summer. This was despite Lisa's muggle mother possibly giving her extra insight into how the muggle mail system worked. Lisa wrote a fair number of letters as well, but her efforts were edged out by Anthony's frequent correspondence. He somehow made time for writing to her despite being hard at work at his family's inn. Gloria had written a couple of letters as well, but not nearly as many. Sakura still found it hard to imagine the active Gryffindor girl sitting still at a desk with a writing utensil clenched in hand.

Sakura opened the envelope, which revealed more much natural flowing English script of Anthony's letter inside. She skimmed through the letter as quickly as she could, only slightly challenged by the somewhat sloppy handwriting in Sakura's non-native language. Apparently he still found the idea that a person was physically carrying the actual paper he was writing on all the way around the world bemusing and utterly unbelievable. He wondered how they had enough people to handle all of the letters if each one had to be carried by a single person to a destination across the ocean; and why they weren't charging top Galleon prices for the service.

In more personal news, their inn was positively bustling as well. They were talking about expanding it. Anthony was worried about the cost, but the family didn't seem to pay his opinion half as much attention as that of his brother. Relatedly, his brother was acting like quite a "git" it seemed. While Sakura wasn't quite sure what that meant she was fairly sure the term wasn't meant as a compliment.

Sakura was idly flipping through the remainder of the mail and thinking about what parts, if any, of her latest experiments with potions to write back to him about when another letter appeared which drove all the other thoughts from her head.

The handwriting showed none of the stiff artificiality that indicated it had been sent by one of her friends from Hogwarts. Indeed she instantly recognized the handwriting as being from Syaoran. Without ceremony, Sakura quickly ripped open the envelope and tore into the letter like a dehydrated woman into a glass of water.

At the first sentence Sakura's heart almost jumped into her throat. Syaoran would be able to join her at school this year. His interest in the school and Western magic in general had been one of the main reasons she was returning to Hogwarts this year. Even if he hadn't been able to join her, she would still have wanted to learn as much as she could there. At worst she would be able to show him and Mei-Ling some of the magic she was learning. However, not so secretly, she had been hoping that they would be able to join her there.

Even better, it looked like Syaoran might be able to join her in the second-year classes as well. He would need to pass some silly magical test called a W.O.M.B.A.T., but he was sure he would be able to pass it despite Kaho's warnings that the test was very difficult.

The next paragraph managed to completely crush Sakura's good mood, though. It seemed that Mei-Ling would not in fact be able to join them at Hogwarts. Some tests at some office in Hong Kong had confirmed that she was apparently a squib, meaning that she had absolutely no magical potential at all. Despite the generally low magical requirements needed for Western magic, Mei-Ling wouldn't have any more access to it than she did to Eastern magic.

Sakura could only continue reading on autopilot after that bit of crushing news, barely registering Syaoran's explanation that as Hong Kong was a British colony there would be no issue with using a portkey to travel across the world from there to England, and his suggestion of some rough travel plans which might work. The letter finally came to a conclusion with some generic formalities.

After she finished reading the letter, Sakura finish looking through the rest of the mail in her hands. Nothing struck her as being particularly interesting as she flipped through them in a very wooden manner. She simply carried them into an appropriate place where her brother and father would find and deal with them.

At least Syaoran would be able to join her this year which she thought was good news. No, she was sure that that was good news. Furthermore, she was sure Tomoyo would want to hear about that particularly good news as well. For that matter, the ability to use a portkey from Hong Kong opened up all sorts of possibilities for traveling. She would need to mention that as well before Tomoyo's mother booked any plane tickets.

Despite having seen her just an hour earlier, Sakura picked up the phone to dial Tomoyo and let her know these latest developments.

* * *

Practice may or may not make perfect, but it certainly made things easier. After having packed several times, both for going to and returning from the United Kingdom, Sakura was well practiced by this point. On the other hand, she could have been having an easier packing due to the fact that she was simply bringing less stuff on this latest trip.

Her time at Hogwarts over the past year had provided a great deal of insight into what she actually needed to bring with her and what she had expected to need but had never actually used in school. Even with the addition of her wand and the other paraphernalia she had brought back to Japan, it felt like she was packing fewer things than on her first trip.

"Done," Sakura announced, relieved.

"Already?" Keroberos asked. "Sure ya got everything?"

"I think so," Sakura said.

"Ya got yer shirts?" Keroberos asked.

Sakura pulled up a few layers of clothing in her suitcase to check, then confirmed, "Yes."

"And yer skirts?" Keroberos asked.

"Yes," Sakura said, seeing them right below the shirts.

"Underwear? Socks? Shoes? Uniforms? Toothbrush? Toothpaste? Brush? Comb?" Keroberos asked, continuing to name things.

Sakura confirmed all of them.

"What about yer books? There's Astronomy, Charms, Transfiguration..." Keroberos asked, moving on to the more magical aspects of the trip.

"I'm not bringing them," Sakura said. They were still visibly sitting on her desk, no longer tucked away in a hidden corner. Seeing how her father now knew about her magical abilities and the nature of her studies at Hogwarts, there was almost no reason to hide them anymore. Sakura continued, answering the unasked question, "They're heavy, and the Hogwarts and Ravenclaw libraries both have lots of copies."

Keroberos nodded in understanding, having had to carry most of them himself at some point or another.

"What about yer wand?" Keroberos asked.

"Here," Sakura said, showing it. "I'm going to carry it, and the cards and the Key."

"That's everything I can think of. Funny. I thought there'd be more," Keroberos said, looking at the only half-full suitcase.

"Me too," Sakura said, thinking back to the previous year when she had only barely been able to fit the book containing the Sakura Cards into her backpack.

She looked around, thinking of what she had excluded which she could now fit in with the extra space she had available. Her gaze naturally settled on the stuffed doll in the pink and yellow cape, not coincidentally reminding her of the Final Judgment she had faced with Yue. She picked it up and placed it next to the gray stuffed bear she had received from Syaoran already lying in her suitcase.

Another look around the room and her eye next fell on her red and white skates, along with her helmet and safety pads. She walked over and picked them up. There would be enough room for them as well, not that there was any reason to bring them.

"What're ya bringing them for? Ya can't use 'em, remember?" Keroberos asked, pointing out what Sakura already knew.

"Too bad. It'd be nice. There's not too much else to do in the castle," Sakura said with a sigh. For a magical school, there was surprisingly little to do there. They didn't really have any clubs she'd heard of, and besides Quidditch there didn't seem to be very much to do at all. When she got too restless she could always go exploring the castle with Gloria, but while they still frequently found new secrets hidden away in various hallways or closets, Sakura longed for something a bit more predictable and reliable than simply poking around Hogwarts Castle.

"Maybe, but I doubt they've suddenly paved the road to the castle or anything over the summer. Those witches and wizards teleport and fly any time they got to go anywhere long distance," Keroberos said.

"I know. It's a shame that..." Sakura said, but then trailed off. A thought just struck her. Flying. The Fly. Maybe it was possible. She snatched up the skates and the associated safety equipment and placed them in her suitcase. They neatly filled the remaining space.

"What're ya doing? We just said ya can't use 'em," Keroberos said.

"I just had an idea, Kero-chan," Sakura answered. It was too bad she had only just had it now. If she had thought of it a few weeks ago she could have spent part of her time over the summer experimenting. On the other hand, it would likely be much easier to experiment in the United Kingdom, what with being able to get help from Eriol and Kaho and the various professors in Hogwarts.

Sakura was a bit concerned that her lugging her skates around to another country would be a lot of trouble all for naught and that she was just wasting her time. However, she had just been thinking there was too much time and too little to do in the castle, and this would certainly help alleviate that problem.

* * *

The flights might have been equally international, but Sakura's trip to Hong Kong involved far less fuss than her flights to the United Kingdom. Not only was she much more familiar with flying as compared to her first trip overseas, the flight itself was so short that she barely had time to get uncomfortable before they were disembarking from the plane.

As she looked around the Hong Kong airport, Sakura was struck by how different it was than Narita International Airport. Nevertheless, it still managed to be quite unlike the airport in the United Kingdom as well. It shared some features with both, but it still managed to maintain a distinctive and unmistakable personality all its own.

Unlike her first trip to the United Kingdom, Sakura didn't stop to gawk and experience these personality quirks in any substantial way. She hustled through the airport as quickly as was convenient. Syaoran's mother, Yelan Li, still intimidated her in many ways. This was in spite of Sakura's having been accepted by Yelan during the incident with Madoushi, and in spite of now having a more serious relationship with Syaoran. Maybe it was actually because of her relationship with Syaoran that she felt so intimidated by the woman. Regardless, she loathed to keep the woman waiting.

Sakura was able to find Yelan without issue. Yelan was accompanied by both Syaoran and Mei-Ling. The stern presence of the woman prevented any substantial outbursts of emotion and conversation among the children when they met in the airport as well as during the ride to the Li home.

It was only when the group had arrived at Syaoran's house, which still looked as opulent as ever in the crowded city, and the children had been left alone that Sakura feel like they could actually talk freely.

"Thank you for your hospitality," Sakura said to both Syaoran and Mei-Ling, speaking in Japanese. She had never learned Cantonese. She wondered if she should at some point, given her growing relationship with Syaoran.

"It's nothing. It's only for a bit before we use that portkey of yours," Syaoran said, brushing off the thanks. "If anything, we should be thanking you for saving us the trip."

"'We?' Yer coming with us too?" Keroberos asked.

"Of course. I wouldn't miss it for anything," Mei-Ling said proudly.

"I thought you weren't going to be coming to Hogwarts. Something about being a squib," Sakura said. The English term bounced off her tongue with some degree of unfamiliarity.

"Like a little thing like that would stop me from going with you. You can only be left behind by someone as incredible as Syaoran so many times before it stops getting you down. I still want to try out that portkey and check out the United Kingdom," Mei-Ling said.

"Mei-Ling," Syaoran said, protesting the description.

"Either of ya used a portkey before?" Keroberos asked.

"No. My parents still don't trust them. If it had been anybody but Clow who made the portkey they'd have said we couldn't use it. The only reason they agreed is that we have a couple of other artifacts Clow made lying around, and they all work fine so they're willing to let us try it out," Syaoran said.

"But it was Eriol-kun who made the portkeys," Sakura said.

"He's still Clow reincarnated, right?" Syaoran justified.

Sakura didn't know how to answer that, so didn't.

"Enough talking, when are we going?" Mei-Ling asked.

"Wait, where's everybody else? Aren't yer parents or yer sisters gonna see ya off or anything?" Keroberos asked.

"They're all too scared. They're willing to let us try to use the portkey, but they're worried something might go wrong and don't want to be anywhere near it," Syaoran said. He then pulled out the wooden model of Clow Manor that Sakura had last seen when Eriol had presented the portkey to her last winter. Syaoran asked, "So, are you going to explain how all this works then?"

"The way Eriol-kun explained it to me is that first we're all supposed to be touching it," Sakura said, holding the manor up in her hand.

"Like this?" Syaoran asked, pinching the corner of a roof. Mei-Ling grabbed a corner of a wall, and Keroberos clutched one of the tiny windows of the model.

"Right. Now is everybody holding everything they want to bring?" Sakura asked, double-checking that she had the handle of her luggage clutched in her other hand.

"One second," Mei-Ling said. She ran across the room, grabbed a bag, and came back. "Ready."

"Ready," Syaoran agreed. "Now what?"

"Well, Eriol said to just say, 'to England bound...'" Sakura said, the last in English.

As the portkey activated, Sakura reflected on how that phrase sounded just as stilted and improbable to say now as it had back when Eriol had first told it to her last winter.

* * *

Last Updated: June 7, 2013


	2. 2: Sakura and Syaoran and Diagon Alley

Chapter 2: Sakura and Syaoran and Diagon Alley

If Sakura had to describe the sensation, it would have been like something had hooked onto the back of her naval and yanked her into herself. It was not unlike traveling by train, if she had tied one end of a rope to a speeding locomotive and looped the other end around her waist. The next thing she knew, she felt as much as heard the rush of air and blood in her ears. By all rights it should have hurt, but she actually felt fine, ignoring some horrible disorientation.

The sunlight all around made for a decisive and dramatic indication that they were now far away from the florescent-lit night-sky of Hong Kong. A bright indication, too. Sakura had to squint her eyes immediately upon arrival, and it took her several seconds before she felt like she could get her bearings without blinding herself.

Once she was able to take a good, albeit still squinted, look around her she was able to place herself as being on a grassy plain in easy walking distance to Reed Manor. Her experiences wandering around the estate with Ruby stood her in good stead in recognizing the area, but much more helpful was the splendid building itself which was easily in view.

"That was..." Syaoran started saying in Japanese before he was held at a loss for words. He finally concluded, "Weird."

Sakura and Mei-Ling both nodded in agreement with Syaoran's assessment of the trip they had just taken.

"I take it that's the building we're supposed to go to?" Mei-Ling asked, also in Japanese.

"Yes. That's Reed Manor," Sakura answered in the same language as she shuffled her things around to make them easier to carry and then started walking towards the building. The detail of the wooden model she still held in her hand was much more striking now that she had a chance to actually compare it to the real thing. She casually held the small model up, noting the intricate nuances the sculptor had captured.

"What're we waiting for? Let's go. I'm hungry," Keroberos said, pressing slightly ahead of the group.

"You're hungry. Why am I not surprised?" Syaoran jibed at the floating guardian beast.

"What'd ya say?" Keroberos challenged. He flew backwards so he could turn to face Syaoran, but continued to inexorably fly towards the manor and the food promised therein.

"Come'on. I want to see this famous Clow house," Mei-Ling said, hurrying forward as well.

Sakura and Syaoran made their way somewhat more slowly, with each carrying substantially more belongings with them than Mei-Ling and Keroberos did. As they approached, as if by magic, the front door opened. Sakura was almost ready to believe that Eriol and Kaho had added a new charm to the entrance before the tall figure of Kaho became visible in the doorway.

Kaho put her finger to her lip in a shushing motion and told the three in a low voice, "Go ahead and leave your things here. Eriol is currently helping someone. If you're quiet, you can go listen."

Curious as to what Kaho was talking about, Sakura left her suitcase and backpack at the entrance and followed behind Kaho. Syaoran and Mei-Ling followed suit, leaving their various belongings on the ground. Even Keroberos stayed silent as they followed Kaho up the stairs to the third floor of the manor, which contained Eriol's laboratory.

"... but she asked a price which was too much for me to bear," Sakura heard a voice say as she drew near. The voice was speaking in English. She didn't recognize it.

"There is that," a voice Sakura did recognize as belonging to Eriol answered back, also in English. "It's refreshing to meet somebody who doesn't lose sight of what they have in pursuit of what they want."

They reached the door and Sakura was able to peek inside. Eriol was sitting on a chair behind a desk and was talking to what appeared to be a young woman of possibly Indian descent with long, wavy hair. She was scratching at the chin of something which appeared to be a large mouse on her shoulder. Upon further consideration, it looked a bit more like a small monkey than a mouse.

"Right. She couldn't help me directly, but she provided some advice for a much more reasonable fee. She suggested I seek you out," the woman said.

"I'm happy to help if I can, although I have my fee as well, of course," Eriol said. "You said you were looking for somebody, right?"

"Yes. A dear friend. Somebody who once held her hand out to me when I was too scared to accept it," the woman said.

"Lost friendship. That's always tricky," Eriol said, leaning back and tapping his fingers together thoughtfully. "How do you propose to pay for this?"

"Yuuko mentioned you might be interested in this," the woman said, holding out an object between her thumb and index finger. It caught the light and flashed brilliantly. Sakura recognized it as being a small, silvery ring.

"I most certainly am," Eriol confirmed. He stood up and walked over to a nearby shelf. "You know what that is, right? It's said that that ring gives people the power to bring revolution to the world."

"I know," the woman answered. "It's true, but not in the way you might expect."

"That's not too unusual, especially for the more powerful magics. So let's see. What could I trade in return?" Eriol mused to himself.

"Chu-chu," the woman scolded. The creature who had been on her shoulder had managed to climb up to one of the shelves unnoticed. It had its hands in a bag. Beside it was a small pile of objects including a feather quill, a red amulet, and a toy drum which looked bigger than the bag itself did. The woman grabbed for the errant creature just as it pulled a piece of paper from the bag. The woman saw it, and then gasped.

"That's her. What is this?" the woman asked, holding up the bag.

"That's quite a coincidence. But now that I think about it, it would be quite the story. Yes, that actually does work. Especially with that friend of yours," Eriol mused. "If you take that bag and follow where it leads, you'll find what you seek at it's ending. Are you sure you want to do this? I'm not constrained by the same restrictions as Yuuko, but I do feel obligated to point out that this isn't exactly a fair trade."

"Yes, I'm sure. This ring means nothing to me. Less than nothing. It's worth it," the woman said, handing the ring to Eriol.

"Very well," Eriol said. He took the ring, and then picked up the feather, drum, and amulet. He handed the first two to the woman, who already had the bag, and handed the amulet to the strange creature the woman had called Chu-chu. "Then with that, our business is concluded. Good luck. You've picked a hard path to follow."

"Thank you," the woman said. "Some advice before I go; don't put the ring on. It's a heavy burden to bear, and once you do you'll never be able to remove it."

"I see. Thank you for the warning," Eriol said in return. He still held the ring up to his eye, inspecting it closely. "Ruby, can you show the lady out?"

"Right this way," Ruby said from the side of the room. Sakura hadn't even noticed her until this point, what with the transaction that had just taken place.

As Ruby led the strange woman down the stairs, Sakura heard the woman ask Ruby, "Why do you hide your wings?"

"Eriol. You aren't going to do something foolish, are you?" Kaho asked Eriol from across the room. The seeming child was holding the ring in his right thumb and index finger, next to the ring finger of his left hand.

"Of course not," Eriol said, putting the ring down on the desk beside him. He then turned to the three children and Keroberos and said, "Ah... sorry I wasn't able to welcome you myself, but sometimes business interferes."

"Business? What kind of business was that?" Sakura asked, switching to English to match Eriol and Kaho.

"Clow used to do some trading on the side," Keroberos preempted, answering Sakura's question in English. "People would come to him and he'd help them out in return for magical items to study. It's how he got so much stuff to research, and how he could afford things like this manor."

"Nothing so serious. Just a bit of a hobby on the side," Eriol said.

"But it sounded like that woman was referred to you," Sakura said, despite his attempts at downplaying his activities.

"Yes, but Yuuko's something of a special case. It's not too important, though," Eriol said, bringing that particular line of inquiry to a close. "So how was your trip? It was your first time using a portkey, right?"

"It was weird," Syaoran answered, now speaking in slightly accented but very understandable English.

"It can feel like that the first time, especially when traveling long distances. You get used to it after a while," Kaho said in response.

"Wait. Syaoran-kun, you speak English?" Sakura asked in surprise.

"Obviously. You didn't think I'd come to school all the way out here if I didn't speak the language, did you?" Syaoran asked.

"I guess I never really thought about it. Where did you learn it?" Sakura asked.

"They made us all learn it in school," Mei-Ling said, in the same slightly accented but understandable English Syaoran used.

"The government tries to push English in Hong Kong and the other colonies," Kaho explained.

"I see," Sakura said.

"Well, seeing how you've just arrived, what would you like to do first? An early lunch or a tour of the manor?" Eriol asked.

"Lunch!" Keroberos immediately called out.

Syaoran and Mei-Ling shared a glance, and then said in unison, "Tour."

This elicited a groan of complaint from Keroberos, and a look of triumph from Syaoran and Mei-Ling.

"You've seen it all before so if you want to go eat first we can meet you downstairs, Keroberos," Eriol suggested.

"Great, see you all later," Keroberos said, flying away.

"You'd better not eat it all," Sakura called out after the rapidly disappearing figure.

"You can go too if you want, Sakura," Eriol added. "You've already seen everything we're going to show these two."

"No. I want to go with Syaoran-kun," Sakura said.

Syaoran stepped to Sakura's side and took her hand, causing both to smile.

"Okay. Well, there isn't too much up here besides my laboratory, so if you'll follow me," Eriol said, leading the others down the staircase to the floor below. "Over here we have the library where we keep most of the sorcery references, like Wilbert Slinkhard's 'Defensive Magical Theory,' and Merlin's 'Second Journal of Meta-Magic,'" Eriol explained, walking past one of the rooms and pointing towards it. "The third library is over there. It's where we keep most of the artificer magical references, like Owle Bullock's 'Secrets of the Darkest Art.' It's the largest library in the house so most of the other miscellaneous books end up there as well."

Something about Eriol's tour caught Sakura's attention. It took her a second before she could figure out what it was. Once she did, she suddenly interrupted in a worried tone, "Wait. That book. 'Secrets of the Darkest Art.' Is that one of those forbidden Dark Arts books?"

"Dark Arts?" Eriol asked, shaking his head slightly. He had stopped walking and turned to face Sakura, prompting the others in the group to do the same. "What makes them dark?"

"They're really bad," Sakura answered with confidence. They had discussed the Dark Arts a great deal in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, where she had heard Professor Quirrel talk at length about how dangerous books like Owle Bullock's tome were. "They cause a lot of pain and suffering, and only Dark Witches and Wizards use them."

"Sakura, any magic can cause pain and suffering," Eriol said.

Kaho stood to the side as the byplay proceeded between the two of them. Syaoran and Mei-Ling stayed silent as well, watching the interchange.

"But the Dark Arts are evil magic," Sakura said emphatically, as Professor Quirrel had said repeatedly and as the other professors like Professor Flitwick had mentioned from time to time as well.

"There isn't any such thing as good magic, evil magic, light magic, dark magic, or any other labels your teachers might try to put on things. There are only good and bad uses of magic," Eriol said, a touch of disapproval in his voice. "You learned the Ventus charm, right? Did you know that that's considered a jinx, and thus is technically classified as Dark Magic by the Ministry of Magic?"

"But that makes no sense," Sakura said. The Ventus charm had been the first charm she had been taught by Professor Flitwick in class.

"You're right. It doesn't," Eriol agreed. "Magic is just a tool, like a saw or a hammer. You can use a Reductor curse to mine for resources, or you can use it to kill a person. The magic isn't good or evil, it's the person using it."

Sakura thought a bit more. It had all seemed so much more clear in class with a professor in the front of the room talking definitively on the nature and evil of the Dark Arts. She looked up in askance towards Kaho, who gave her a curious look in return but didn't disagree with anything Eriol said.

Finally Sakura acceded, saying, "I guess so."

"To cut off an entire field of magic from study just because somebody you don't know declared it as bad is foolish in the extreme, even if only because you won't know how to deal with it it if somebody ever decides to use it against you," Eriol said.

Sakura nodded to herself as she thought about what Eriol had said. It made sense, but what Professor Quirrel and the others at Hogwarts had said made sense too. She would need to think about it more.

After that, the rest of the tour around the building proceeded if not identical to than close enough to the tour Sakura had been given the previous year that her preoccupied mind didn't notice any differences. Kaho pointed out the three rooms the children would be staying in, Sakura taking the same room she had had the previous year. Eriol also gave an admonition to Sayoran and Mei-Ling to not go up to his laboratory, much like the admonition he had given to Sakura the previous year. They then proceeded to the ground floor, where Kaho and Eriol took turns showing them the arboretum, study, and various other rooms there. One thing Sakura did notice was that Syaoran and Mei-Ling had a general look of reverence and awe on their faces throughout the tour.

The tour concluded with a brief look in the kitchen before ending up in the dining room. Inside, Keroberos and Spinel Sun were both in their fake forms, standing on the table arm-in-arm, and singing as boisterously as a pair of drunk salary-men in a karaoke bar. Beside them, the entrails of their conquest were laid plain to see for all. A few bags of snacks were torn open and crumbs were strewn all about. Despite the tiredness Sakura felt for the already long day she had had, and that the time-shifted daylight outside masked, the scene still brought a wry smile to her face.

At that point, the five of them broke up to their separate ways: Sakura, Syaoran, and Mei-Ling to bring their things up to their respective rooms to unpack, and Eriol and Kaho to prepare lunch.

* * *

Sakura, Mei-Ling, Eriol, and Kaho were currently loitering around Diagon Alley. Eriol hadn't especially wanted to go there, but the trip had been necessary for Syaoran to take his W.O.M.B.A.T. examination in an official setting.

Keroberos had stayed behind at Reed Manor to prevent any of the problems which might occur if a creature relatively unfamiliar to the Western world showed up in a busy place like Diagon Alley. Spinel Sun had also stayed behind for the same reason, as well as to keep an eye on Keroberos's exuberance. Ruby Moon stayed behind to make sure Spinel Sun didn't end up in any bad situations in the event that Keroberos managed to get Spinel Sun to eat some sweets.

The appropriate adjective to use to describe the alley was a matter of debate. Sakura found the look to be charmingly medieval and atmospheric.

"It's dirty and rundown," Eriol reiterated his earlier comment. "They need to pave the roads and put in some electrical lighting."

"I like the roads. It's like being in a real life movie," Mei-Ling said, agreeing with Sakura's earlier assertion herself.

"I'm not saying there isn't a place for it, but that place should be a theme park or museum. Why do people put up with living in a place like this?" Eriol asked.

"It'd be kind of be fun to live here," Sakura reiterated. "Hogwarts Castle isn't too different, and it's pretty comfortable there."

"Maybe for some people, but not for me. I think if more of the people here..." Eriol started saying, but fell silent as the door in front of them opened and Syaoran emerged.

Sakura could tell with a glance that things had not gone well. Still hoping against hope, she asked, "How did it go?"

Syaoran slapped his fist against the wall to his side, undoubtedly doing more damage to his hand than to the rock. He growled out, "That was dumb. What does the question of if some flying carpet should be referred to Wizengamot have to do with magic?"

"Wizengamot? What's that?" Sakura asked. "We never talked about that in school."

"See? That's what I mean," Syaoran said, on the verge of shouting but not actually crossing that line.

"I did try to warn you that the test was hard," Kaho said. "I know even some of the professors at Hogwarts wouldn't pass a W.O.M.B.A.T. on their first try."

"Then why do they use that test?" Mei-Ling asked.

"It's tradition," Eriol scoffed.

"If it's that useless then can't you do something, like talk to the headmaster?" Syaoran asked Kaho.

"I might be able to, but it really is better for you to start in the first year, anyway," Kaho said.

Syaoran bristled at this.

"No. Listen to me. I'm being serious. You're the most talented wizard in the Li family this generation, and you're probably in the top 10% of wizards in the whole world. I know that, and you know that. But they do things differently here than you're used to," Kaho said.

Sakura nodded her head in silent agreement to Kaho's words. She had had a lot of trouble in many of her classes at first, and still had issues with some subjects.

Eriol added, "There are a lot of basic things you just don't know about Western magic, like how to identify plants and how use a wand. There will already be some stigma against you for being 'from the colonies.' There's no reason to make yourself more of a target by skipping a year, especially if you aren't ready for it and more."

Syaoran grumbled, and eventually said, "But I wanted to be in the same class as Sakura-chan."

"We can still study together and see each other outside of class," Sakura reassured Syaoran. "And this way I can help you if you get stuck on any of your homework, too."

"Thanks," Syaoran said, somewhat mollified but still clearly upset.

"Well, so long as we're here we should probably go ahead and get the school supplies for you two. No sense in making an extra trip back home. In addition to Sakura's new books we'll need to get you some uniforms, a wand, and some books too, Syaoran. Actually, Sakura, you've grown a bit since last year if I'm not mistaken so we should probably get you some new uniforms as well, since we'll be going to Madam Malkin's anyway," Kaho said.

"There's also the question of Syaoran's familiar. Have you decided if you want to get one?" Eriol asked.

"I think so. I think I want to get a cat," Syaoran said.

"A cat?" Mei-Ling asked.

"It makes more sense than an owl or a toad for when I go back to Hong Kong," Syaoran explained.

"Wait, a wand?" Sakura asked, interrupting the flow of conversation. "Can't Eriol just make a wand for Syaoran-kun like he made one for me?"

"I could, but I don't have any appropriate supplies. We have plenty of wood, but no good cores," Eriol said. "Remember how I had Syaoran hold all of those things a few days ago? I was checking if any of them would be suitable for him, but none of them responded quite right."

"So that's what that was for," Mei-Ling said.

"Can't you just use another one of Kero-chan's feather's again?" Sakura asked.

"No. They'd never get along. There's too much of a character mismatch. The wand would probably spend all of its time zapping Syaoran. As funny as a constantly backfiring wand would be, it'd be almost useless and very dangerous at Hogwarts," Eriol said.

"Professor Mizuki?" a voice then called out as they were passing a tall building labeled as being Gringotts. The group stopped and looked around to locate the source of the voice.

"That is you Professor Mizuki. Thank you for your help over the summer," the voice then said as the familiar figure of Lisa emerged from the crowd. She still kept her long blonde hair loose so it fell in curls around her head, and her growth over the year meant she still managed to edge out Sakura in height despite Sakura's own growth. "Why, you are here too, Sakura. Good afternoon."

"Lisa? What are you doing here?" Sakura asked.

"The same thing you are, I suspect. I am shopping for school supplies," Lisa said.

"On your own? Where are your parents?" Kaho asked tensely.

"Father is just over there, working in Gringotts," Lisa said, pointing to the large building she had approached from, "and Diagon Alley is a safe enough place. Besides, if I get into any trouble, I always have this."

Lisa held out her wrist, around which was a small clear bracelet. Sakura didn't recognize it, but Kaho gave a nod in acknowledgment and relaxed a bit.

"You're right. We're here shopping too, although we haven't managed to get anything yet," Sakura said.

"I just got started myself as well. If you would care to join me I would enjoy the company," Lisa said.

"Sure. We're about to go get a wand for Syaoran-kun," Sakura said.

"That sounds lovely. I always rather enjoy looking around Ollivander's. However, who is Syaorankun?" Lisa asked.

"That's right. I forgot to introduce you. This is Syaoran, Mei-Ling, and Eriol. They're some friends of mine from back home. This is Lisa, she's a friend of mine from Hogwarts," Sakura said, introducing them respectively.

"Nice to meet you" and "it's a pleasure to meet you" chorused as the introduced parties greeted each other.

"Wait a second. You are that boy Sakura told us all about last year, are you not? So you heard how good a school Hogwarts is and decided to join your cute girlfriend here?" Lisa teased. Meanwhile Kaho once again started leading the now slightly expanded group onward.

Syaoran blushed a bit, and then said in a self-conscious way, "Kind of."

Sakura blushed a bit as well at Lisa's description of the situation.

"That is so romantic! I want a boyfriend, especially one who will cross the world to be with me," Lisa said. Sakura could practically see cartoon hearts floating around Lisa's head.

"I thought you and Wayne were together," Sakura said, confused.

"What? Me and Wayne? No, no, no. It is nothing like that," Lisa said, possibly a touch too quickly while shaking her head. "He is just a friend."

Sakura didn't pursue the subject, nor ask why a touch of pink had started showing on Lisa's cheeks either. Instead she pointed to a sign ahead and asked, "Is that Ollivander's?"

"Yes, it is. Best wand shop in the entire city," Lisa confirmed.

Kaho held the door open while Eriol, Sakura, Syaoran, and the other children entered. Immediately the shopkeeper greeted the group with a soft but enthusiastic voice. He said, "Ah... Miss Turpin. Back so soon? It's a pleasure to see you again. I'm lucky your parents are so generous."

"Not today, Mr. Ollivander. We are simply here so Syaoran can purchase a wand," Lisa said, although she had already started eying the boxes which lined the room. The look and layout of the store somehow gave impression that it was a dusty, old, esoteric library.

"I see. Well, Miss Syaoran, which is your wand arm?" Mr. Ollivander asked Sakura.

"Hoe? No, I'm Sakura and I already have a wand. This is Syaoran," Sakura said, pulling Syaoran's hand forward while stepping back herself. This resulted in Syaoran being between her and Mr. Ollivander.

"Ah, I do beg your pardon, young sir. So Mr. Syaoran, which is your wand arm?" Mr. Ollivander asked.

"I cast most of my magic with my right hand, if that's what you're asking," Syaoran answered.

"Very good. Now can you please hold out that arm?" Mr. Ollivander asked, pulling out a tape measure.

Syaoran held out his arm while Mr. Ollivander used the tape measure to measure the full length of it from shoulder to finger. The man then walked away. Syaoran was compelled to continue to hold his arm out, though, as despite the fact it was no longer being held the tape measure kept measuring different parts of his arm and hand. It then moved over to his body, and eventually to his head.

"That will do," Mr. Ollivander snapped out, interrupting the tape measure as it was measuring the length of Syaoran's nose. It collapsed to the ground like a non-magical version of itself. "Why don't you have a try with this, a nice maple with dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Perfect for dueling."

Mr. Ollivander held the wand out to Syaoran, who picked it up and held it like a short sword in front of him. This prompted Mr. Ollivander to say, "Don't just stand there; give it a wave."

Syaoran waved the wand. Nothing appeared to happened.

"Oh, no, that's no good at all," Mr. Ollivander said, pulling the wand out of Syaoran's hand. He then stuffed another wand into Syaoran's grip with his other hand, saying, "Maybe an ash and veela hair instead?"

Syaoran waved it with a similar apparent lack of effect.

"Thought not. Try this. Birch and acromantula fang," Mr. Ollivander said.

The process continued for a prolonged period of time without any visible effect. The repetition and lack of visible progress was tiring. That was only for Syaoran and the spectators, though. As they continued, Mr. Ollivander only seemed to grow more and more energetic.

By the time Mr. Ollivander handed Syaoran the eleven-inch oak wand with a dragon scale core, it was obvious to Sakura that Syaoran was thoroughly worn out from the process. Sakura couldn't fault him. She was worn out just from just having watched him. Overall, she thought Eriol's way of dealing with wands made a lot more sense. Even so, Syaoran humored the shopkeeper by swinging the latest wand which had been forcefully thrust into his hand with a lazy and half-hearted swish. This caused a stream of red and gold sparks to erupt from the wand like a firework, which managed to visibly startle Syaoran.

"Excellent. It looks like we've located you your wand," Mr. Ollivander said. "So, that's one wand then, unless you've changed your mind, Miss Turpin?"

"No, no, I am quite alright," Lisa said in response, despite carrying three boxes in her arms. She pulled open her purse, and then closed it a few seconds later with a frown and started putting the boxes back onto the shelves.

"Very good. That will be seven Galleons for one wand then," Mr. Ollivander said. He collected the golden coins from Kaho.

"Before you go, do you mind if I have a look at your wand, Miss Sakura? Only I like to see what the other wand makers are up to. Call it a professional curiosity, if you will," Mr. Ollivander asked.

Sakura looked to Eriol for guidance, who shrugged and nodded back. She then pulled out her wand and handed it over to Mr. Ollivander, saying, "Sure."

Mr. Ollivander carefully took Sakura's wand and twisted it back and forth while looking deeply at it. He then held it between his two hands and lightly bent it. His face scrunched up with a puzzled look, and then he bent her wand further with more force.

"I've never seen a wand like this before. What is it? Mahogany?" Mr. Ollivander asked.

"Teak," Eriol corrected him.

"Teak?" Mr. Ollivander repeated back. "No wonder it's so long. Interesting twist in the core here and here. And here too. Phoenix feather core?" Mr. Ollivander asked.

"Something like that," Sakura said. She didn't know much about phoenixes but understood them to be flying fiery birds, which sounded similar enough to Keroberos minus the bird part.

"I thought so. So the magic goes from here to here... and... hmm..." Mr. Ollivander mused to himself. He gave the wand a quick flick towards a bare wall, and then handed it back to Sakura.

"Quite the unconventional wand you have there. I'd love to have a talk with its creator and hear what he or she was thinking. It's efficient, to be sure, but most opinionated. You said you can use it?" Mr. Ollivander asked.

"Yes. Do you want a demonstration?" Sakura asked, holding her wand in her hand at the ready.

"No, that's quite all right. I believe you, and I'd never suggest you violate the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery. All I can say is that you must be quite the remarkable young witch," Mr. Ollivander said. He then turned to Mei-Ling and asked, "What about you, young miss? Do you mind if I have a look at your wand as well? It's just your companion's was so interesting."

"I don't have a wand. I'm a squib," Mei-Ling said, in a tone which could have been a boast. Both Mr. Ollivander and Lisa gasped at this declaration.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed," Mr. Ollivander said.

"I am so sorry to hear that," Lisa agreed. "Do not worry, nobody thinks any less of you for it. Some of the best families have squibs from time to time."

"They're always doing research and they'll find a cure for it eventually," Mr. Ollivander added.

"Don't talk like it's some kind of disease," Mei-Ling angrily retorted. "I can still beat you in a fight, with or without a wand."

Mr. Ollivander coughed, and then after a momentary pause said, "Right. Well... if our business here is finished then I will bid you a good day."

He gave a stiff bow to the group as they left the shop. On the way out, Lisa checked the content of her purse one last time before finally leaving with a frown.

"It probably makes the most sense to get your books next. Flourish and Blotts is just over there," Kaho said.

The group proceeded to the bookstore. Syaoran handed his wand over to Mei-Ling as they walked. Mei-Ling spent the time examining his wand and waving it playfully around in manner similar to how Syaoran had waved it in the store earlier. It reminded Sakura of what Tomoyo had done with her own wand, before she had started practicing charms in earnest in Japan.

Once the bookstore came into sight, Kaho slowed down and the rest of the group slowed down to match. There was something of a crowd gathered in front of the building.

"Maybe we should go visit Madam Malkin's for your uniforms first. It's a bit further, but I think we should try to avoid whatever is going on in there," Kaho suggested.

As she spoke, several people were hurrying out of the store. Almost as if to confirm Kaho's suggestion, a man with stark red hair emerged from the building. His natural look of joviality was ruined by how he was nursing a bleeding lip. A stern looking woman with equally vivid hair followed just behind, shouting at him. Two other adults without such prominent features followed just behind them both.

"That sounds like it's probably a good idea," Sakura agreed.

"We can come back later. Madam Malkin's is over this way," Kaho said, leading everybody in a wide arc around the store and whatever was going on inside it.

Sakura followed closely behind, being sure to give the store a wide berth just as Kaho had. As she walked she felt a hauntingly familiar sensation, but it took her several seconds to place it as being similar to what she had felt the few times she had met Harry Potter. Turning her head towards the bookstore and the feeling, though, she was unable to spot anybody who looked like the boy in question. Instead her eyes were drawn to what appeared to be a clump of red-haired boys clustered around a red-haired girl who was staggering under an enormous stack of books.

Then, in a blink, they were out of sight. It took Sakura a second to realize that she had actually recognized some of the boys in that clump, and then two more seconds before she realized who they were.

"Wasn't that Fred and George Weasley back there? I hope they aren't in any trouble," Sakura said. She turned around to take another look to verify their presence, but couldn't re-spot them anywhere.

"What, back there?" Lisa asked, craning her neck to try to get a better angle at the vanishing store. "I do not see them anywhere."

"It wouldn't surprise me in the least. Fred and George are always causing trouble. If it was them I wouldn't worry too much about it, Sakura. Those two always manage to avoid any serious consequences," Kaho said. She also turned her head around for a quick peek backwards before returning her gaze forward and leading the group away from the scene towards Madam Malkin's.

They didn't make it that far. Along the way, while passing a store labeled Eeylops Owl Emporium, Syaoran brought everybody up short, announcing, "There. That's the familiar for me."

Sakura looked at where Syaoran was pointing, towards a small dark gray owl sitting on a stand outside the store.

"What? You want to get that owl?" Mei-Ling asked.

"Yes. It's perfect," Syaoran confirmed.

"I thought you said that you wanted to get a cat," Sakura said.

"I changed my mind. I want that owl," Syaoran repeated.

"Are you sure? If you want an owl, there are a lot more of them inside the store," Eriol suggested.

"Yes, I'm sure," Syaoran said.

Nevertheless Syaoran allowed himself to be persuaded to go into the store to see several of the other owls within it. They passed row upon row of owls covering all the different sizes and colors Sakura had heard of, plus a couple she hadn't heard of before. However, Syaoran failed to have a reaction with any of them.

After several minutes of halfhearted searching, Syaoran was the proud owner of a new owl. They then continued on their way towards Madam Malkin's. Syaoran had a big grin on his face as he walked onward, carrying his new owl in her cage.

Service at Madam Malkin's was very different than the time Sakura had gotten her robes in preparation for her first year at school. Unlike that costume shop with its racks upon racks of clothing, Madam Malkin's was a smallish store.

Madam Malkin had each of the students stand up on a footstool in turn as she or her assistant placed a generic length robe on the child, pinned the robe to the correct length, and then adjusted the size appropriately. Unlike wand shopping, the process didn't seem to take an eternity, and Sakura liked the personal touch of the service.

With the uniforms purchased, the final stop was the return trip to the bookstore to purchase the various books needed for the coming school year. Whoever the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was, it was a reasonable assumption that he or she was a big fan of Gilderoy Lockhart; almost all of the new books Sakura needed to buy and a good portion of the books Syaoran would need had been written by him.

That very same author was signing books at Flourish and Blotts as well. Outside of the store, the large crowd from earlier in the afternoon had mostly dispersed. This revealed a sign declaring that Gilderoy Lockhart would be in the store and signing copies of his latest book. The sign had gone unnoticed during the commotion the last time Sakura had passed by.

Inside the building there was a small group of reporters comparing notes with each other. There was also a small crowd, standing more or less in a line. Most of the crowd was comprised of witches of all ages. Beside them the shopkeeper was doing his best to move traffic through as quickly as possible. At the front of the crowd was a dashing figure of a wizard wearing a powered-blue robe and matching wizard hat angled in a particularly debonair way over his wavy hair.

The shopkeeper's attempts to keep traffic flowing were partially impeded by the inclination for all of the witches to dawdle as they approached the front of the line, and then to outright stall when talking to the wizard; but only partially impeded, as all of the witches behind the lucky person in front did their best to assist the shopkeeper in moving the group forward so they might have a chance to bask in the wizard's megawatt-bright smile.

"That is him. That is Gilderoy Lockhart himself. I simply must have a chance to speak with him and have him to sign a book for me," Lisa proclaimed, promptly getting into line herself.

"So he's famous then, this Gilderoy fellow?" Syaoran asked, getting in line himself as well.

"You do not know who Gilderoy is?" Lisa asked. "I thought everybody knew who he was. He has a Third Class Order of Merlin, and is a five-time winner of Witches Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award."

"Witches Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award? That makes him important? What next? Firmest handshake? Best brushed hair?" Mei-Ling asked, although she had also gotten in line with Lisa, Sakura, and all the others.

"Hush you. You do not know how lucky you are. Gilderoy is one of the biggest names in the wizarding world. There are countless people who want more than anything to be able to meet him," Lisa said. She was craning her neck to see how many people were in front of her. The line seemed relatively short, and he shopkeeper was still doing his best to keep the traffic flowing along so it moved rather quickly as well.

"Let me guess, they're all women?" Syaoran asked, pointing to the cluster of witches both in front of and behind their small group.

"There are many wizards who would adore meeting him as well. I suspect that the fight earlier might have been due to too many people trying to fight for his attention. The store manager is being quite strict with the queue now, as you can see," Lisa said.

"What makes him so great then?" Sakura asked.

Eriol answered, "According to his own books he's done a number of fantastic things, many of which weren't even known to be possible before he did so and have not since been repeated. For example, he claims to have cured a werewolf of his lycanthropy using a Homorphus charm. It is unfortunate that nobody has been able to get Mr. Lockhart to explain what that is. The search for a cure for lycanthropy has been a major field of research for quite some time and nobody has been able to reproduce the effect he self-reported, or has any knowledge of this Homorphus charm."

"See? Exactly that. He is quite amazing. There is also the time he fought all those ghouls in 'Gadding with Ghouls.' I still get shivers every time I read how he managed to use a tea-strainer to entrap that ghoul while he fought against being overcome by the venom coursing through his body," Lisa said.

"If he's so great then why didn't he save those people in here earlier from whatever happened to them?" Mei-Ling asked.

"I did what I could, young witch, but there's only so much I can do in a crowded place like this. I could hardly hurt them just for being my adoring fans and fighting over me," Gilderoy answered Mei-Ling's question. While they had been talking, Sakura and the others had somehow gotten to the front of the line. Gilderoy continued, "If I had known how envious my other fans would have been then I would never have agreed to give Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived as I'm sure you know, and one of my biggest fans, a complete signed collection of all my books. By the time I had realized my mistake, it was too late and another fan had started a fight over it. In the end, all I could do was to help usher the group out before they disturbed the other patrons of this establishment."

The shop keeper gave a snarl at this, but did not otherwise comment.

"Unfortunately I must ask you to be brief. As you can tell the merchant here has no patience. I always enjoy speaking with my fans, but you understand, don't you?" Gilderoy asked.

"Of course. Can you sign one for me, please? Make it out to your biggest fan, Lisa Turpin," Lisa asked.

"Right," Gilderoy said. He pulled one of the large books off the stack next to him and, flourishing a gigantic ornate peacock feather, signed the inside of it with practiced speed.

Once Sakura saw his signature was complete, Sakura ventured asking, "Excuse me, but I have a question. Why are so many of your books on the Hogwarts textbook list this year?"

"So you all are Hogwarts students? That's most lucky for you. I just announced earlier today that I'll in fact be teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts there starting this year, so you'll have the chance to get to know me in much more detail," Gilderoy said.

Lisa's hands flew to her mouth and she gasped loudly.

Gilderoy either didn't notice or was accustomed to the reaction as he continued without pause, "As your new teacher it is my honor, no my sacred responsibility to educate you to the highest level possible. My books are clearly the best in the market, and it is my duty to ensure you only use the highest quality learning materials possible."

Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura saw Eriol and Kaho exchange a glance, but she couldn't understand what wordless message had passed between the two of them.

"You are going to be our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor this year? Really?" Lisa asked. Her voice had substantially increased in pitch and it sounded like it was being squeezed out. "That is marvelous."

"It is?" Syaoran asked, skeptically.

"Yes, it is. Gilderoy, I mean Professor Lockhart is an honorary member of the Dark Force Defense League and has a great deal of experience facing the Dark Arts. Professor Quirrel from last year was a qualified teacher, but it will be wonderful to have somebody with so much practical experience teaching us how things really work," Lisa said.

Gilderoy seemed to bask in Lisa's words, subtlety moving his head this way and that way as if to try to find the most striking pose while his award-winning smile beamed visible from across the entire room.

"So he has a lot of experience?" Sakura asked.

"Yes. He has been to Tibet as a special adviser to help them with an ill yeti, and once he mediated a dispute between two communities of hags which threatened to spill over into a nearby village," Lisa explained.

"Let's not forget the banshee, and werewolf, and troll, but you are right, Laura. To tell you the truth, I would be more than happy to stay all day and chat with you, but these people here have only until half-five and I'm sure all of them are waiting for me to sign their books," Gilderoy said, casually motioning for them to move out of the way.

During their conversation the line of women and occasional man behind the group had become visibly impatient. The number of people waiting to speak with Gilderoy had grown slightly as well. Sakura and the others allowed themselves to be dismissed and started walking off to buy the rest of the school books for the year.

"Didn't you say your name was Lisa?" Mei-Ling asked, looking over Lisa's shoulder as she stared at the copy of "Magical Me" Lisa had received. "He signed your book wrong."

"He did?" Syaoran asked, looking over Lisa's other shoulder. He read out loud, "To my most admiring fan, Linda Terrapin."

"That's terrible. Let's get him to fix it," Sakura suggested, turning to go back to Gilderoy.

"Sorry, but there are others waiting for their turn. I appreciate that you want to spend all day talking to me, but it's only fair to everybody else. I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to wait until September when classes start to fawn over me," Gilderoy said.

"What a pretentious git," Syaoran said as Sakura turned back, defeated.

"Thank you, Sakura, but I do not mind. Everybody will be so jealous of my signed book, and I am so happy I got to meet Professor Lockhart and that he shall be teaching us this year," Lisa said.

Sakura had no idea what a "pretentious git" was but she found she was more in agreement with Syaoran than Lisa in regard to their new professor.

The rest of the book purchases proceeded without incident, ignoring the fact that Sakura and Lisa struggled under the eight books they had to purchase. Syaoran couldn't move at all with the more than dozen books on his purchase list. At first he had tried to juggle them in his arms before he gave up and let Mei-Ling give him a hand with carrying half of them.

Lisa looked tempted to get back into line and have Gilderoy sign all of her new purchases, but the long and steadily growing number of people waiting ended up dissuading her.

By this point it was late into the afternoon. With their shopping completed, Lisa peeled off and headed into Gringotts as they passed by the building, bidding everybody a fond farewell and expressing her looking forward to seeing them again in the coming school year.

* * *

Last Updated: June 5, 2013


	3. 3: Sakura and the Very Odd Girl

Chapter 3: Sakura and the Very Odd Girl

"We're leaving in half an hour. If you want some breakfast you'd better get up soon," Eriol prompted Sakura from the door.

"What? Breakfast?" Sakura asked. The words bounced around her head until they finally hit something which registered them. "Breakfast. Okay, I'll be right down."

"I still need to wake up Syaoran and Mei-Ling. I'll meet you down there," Eriol said, closing the door behind him.

Despite being coherent enough to sit up in bed and to have an extremely abbreviated conversation with Eriol, Sakura still wasn't fully awake by several definitions of the word. Her eyelids felt heavy, and she had to will them open repeatedly as they kept trying to close on her. The assault of the light against her eyes stood in stark contrast with the pre-dawn darkness outside of the windows. The large rectangles of near-blackness gave an ominous feeling of unfamiliarity to her sleepy gaze. It was much more familiar to see the greens of the fields and forests as well as a bright blue or gray sky from the windows.

Sakura climbed out of bed, glad that she had had the foresight to pack everything the night before. True, it had been at the reminder of Kaho, but she had done it and it made for one less thing to worry about in her morning rush. All she had to do was change out of her pajamas, drop them into her suitcase, close her suitcase tight, and she would be all packed for the upcoming train trip.

She idly wondered if she could get a few more hours of sleep on the train. Given how excited she had been on the trip the previous year, and how partway through the journey she was sure that Gloria, Lisa, Anthony, and maybe some other friends would show up, she doubted she would be able to. Then again, by the time she got to the train, she was sure she would be completely awake and not interested in sleeping anymore anyway.

Sakura yawned.

At least she thought she wouldn't be tired anymore by then.

Following her plan, Sakura changed her clothes, dropped her pajamas into her suitcase, closed her suitcase tight, and made her way out the door. Outside of her room she ran into an equally bleary-eyed Syaoran and Mei-Ling.

"Why do we have to get up so early anyway?" Mei-Ling grumbled out loud.

"We got to get to the train station to catch the Hogwarts Express, and it leaves early," Keroberos answered. They had gone over this the previous day.

"You could have slept-in, you know," Syaoran added.

"And miss saying goodbye to you?" Mei-Ling mumbled, clearly questioning the decision she had made the previous day.

"We're leaving in 20 minutes. You'd better hurry if you want to get something to eat," Kaho's voice prompted them from the bottom of the stairs.

"Let's go," Sakura said with as much enthusiasm as she could muster, which was to say not very much. However, it was more than both Syaoran and Mei-Ling. She was in the lead as the three children and Keroberos proceeded down the stairs to the dining room.

* * *

It might have been the early hour of the morning. It might have been the gorgeous scenery all around them. It was probably some combination of the two. Regardless of the reason, though, the car ride was mostly a silent affair as they drove through the last vestiges of night and into the day.

Despite having seen it all the previous year, and despite having actually frolicked through the fields occasionally during her stay at Reed Manor, the sight was still bedazzling to travel through. The sunrise took her breath away as it appeared on the horizon, revealing once again the picturesque landscape all around them.

The group, packed in the car ever so slightly tighter together as compared to Sakura's first year with the inclusion of Syaoran and Mei-Ling, made their way to the train station where they were scheduled to board the Hogwarts Express. The small bodies of the children ensured there was adequate space for all, although if they were to try the same thing in five years the results would have been much less comfortable for all parties involved.

The quiet train station was everything Sakura remembered it being. Only a few people milled about, going about their business. The scene was practically identical to the previous year. Undoubtedly it had appeared the same the year before that, and the year before that as well. In fact, the sleepy town gave the impression that it hadn't changed for over a decade.

Kaho pulled the car to a stop in front of the train station.

"I guess this is goodbye again," Eriol said to Kaho as the others took turns pulling their luggage out from the car.

"So it is. I'd ask you to not do anything foolish while I'm gone if I thought you'd listen," Kaho said back to Eriol, glancing meaningfully at his hand. Eriol gave one of his characteristic inscrutable looks in return. "Just promise me you'll come back safe."

"I promise," Eriol said, and then gave Kaho a long kiss.

"I love you too," Kaho said, after returning the kiss.

On the other side of the car, a very different goodbye was occurring as Ruby clung to Sakura like the last life preserver on a sinking ship. In many ways it reflected the last time they had parted company.

"It was so good seeing you again," Ruby said.

"I'll see you again in a few months," Sakura said, returning the hug.

Syaoran might have been tempted to protest at the amount of affection Ruby was directing to Sakura. Instead he had his hands full as well, with Mei-Ling clutching him all the while saying, "I'm going to miss you so much."

"Knock it off," Syaoran protested, trying to squirm out of the grip of his cousin.

"But you'll be gone for so long," Mei-Ling said, redoubling her grip.

"It's not like we've never been apart before," Syaoran argued. He managed to get one of his arms free, and then used the additional leverage it provided to pull himself apart from the girl.

"It's different this time," Mei-Ling said. She then turned to Sakura and declared, "You'd better take good care of him."

"Hoe?" Sakura asked, confused for a second. She recovered quickly. "I will. Have a safe trip back to Hong Kong."

Almost like an island of frostiness standing stalwart in an ocean of emotion, the only ones not engaged in a heartfelt goodbye were Keroberos and Spinel. Keroberos displayed his usual enthusiasm in trying to say goodbye to Spinel, who just gave him the same cold shoulder as the previous year. This came as no surprise as, excepting having just eaten some snacks, Spinel was always this detached and seemingly emotionless. Of course force-feeding Spinel would probably have resulted in Keroberos receiving a much more friendly send off, if make Eriol's subsequent drive home that much more difficult.

Their luggage in tow and their goodbyes said, Kaho led Sakura, Keroberos, and Syaoran into the train station as Eriol drove away. The only indication that this wasn't a perfectly ordinary muggle mother leading her two very non-magical children on a trip was the small dark gray owl Kaho carried for Syaoran in a bright gilded cage, and that merely made them look like a slightly eccentric muggle family.

Five minutes later, all of them disappeared from sight after carelessly walking off the end of the train platform.

From there it was a quick walk through a dimly lit terminal to the Hogwarts Express. Once aboard, they made their way to one of the cabins. Sakura made sure to pick a cabin a substantial distance from the engine and the train's exceptionally loud whistle. She had learned her lesson from the previous year well.

Once they had reached a satisfactory room, Kaho helped the two children settle. She then took her leave just before the train started off on its all-day journey to Scotland.

* * *

Both the hours and the miles streaked by with barely any notice as Sakura conversed with Syaoran and Keroberos. The majority of the topics were either directly or indirectly related with Sakura's previous year at Hogwarts: what she had learned, what she had liked, what she had disliked, the various professors, the prominent students, and the adventures she had undertaken. All of that was fair game in the extended conversation they were having. Even when Sakura had tried to find out a bit more about the magic Syaoran had been learning back in Hong Kong, both what he was learning and how he was learning it, the conversation would somehow manage to meander back to Sakura telling Syaoran about the things he could expect in the Scottish school of magic they were rapidly approaching.

The loud whistle of the train as it started and stopped barely even registered to her throughout the trip. This was at least partly due to the fact that the long distance of the cabin she had selected from the whistle somewhat muted its sound, but the whistle still managed to be piercing all the same. It was more a comment on how engaged she was in talking with Syaoran than it was on her strategic room selection that she barely noticed the prominent whistle. Compared to that, the irregular staccato of their cabin door opening and closing as students vied for seats for the long trip to Hogwarts had no chance of registering to her consciousness at all.

Keroberos had decided to take this ride to Hogwarts from the safety of a passenger seat beside Sakura and far away from Siufui, the name Syaoran had bestowed upon his owl. Sakura had no idea what the name meant, but Mei-Ling had approved of it. Mei-Ling approved of everything Syaoran did.

The reason why Keroberos was avoiding Siufui was her recently developed habit. Much to Keroberos's distress, Sakura's consternation, and Syaoran's delight, Siufui had taken to pecking at Keroberos whenever she could. Whenever Keroberos got within beak range, she would start poking at him. The pecks from the small owl weren't strong enough to actually cause injury, but they were enough to be annoying and substantially painful. Every time Sakura noticed this she would complain to Syaoran, who would scold Siufui, who would stop. Stop until the next time Keroberos accidentally wandered into range again.

Seeing how much Syaoran enjoyed seeing his sometimes-rival's discomfort, Sakura wasn't convinced that Syaoran wasn't somehow causing his owl to act this way. However, despite these suspicions, she could never get Syaoran to admit to doing anything, nor could she ever catch him doing anything inappropriate.

It did mean that in trying to avoid the suspiciously-specifically-aggressive owl, Keroberos was in a much better position to join in the talk about Hogwarts and its various mannerisms and activities. So when the question came up of how students spent their free time, which inevitably led to the strange sport of Quidditch which dominated at least half of the school, he was in a perfect position to defend its merits against Sakura's explanation of it.

"It's kind of silly. Whoever catches the Snitch at the end gets 150 points. It makes all of the other stuff which happened beforehand pointless," Sakura said.

Keroberos was quick to counter, "The points aren't the point. It's the challenge. It's the struggle. It's the face-off of man against man trying to see who's stronger and who's weaker. Winning is just an extra little bit at the end."

"See? Keroberos gets it, why don't you, Sakura? Oh, except that winning is really important too," a voice declared from the entrance of the cabin.

Sakura turned her head to the now open doorway and spotted Gloria standing there. Unlike Sakura, Gloria hadn't grown any taller over the summer, although her curves had become slightly more defined as compared to the last time Sakura had seen her. Even so, the blonde girl still dwarfed Sakura's height. She was carrying a newspaper under her arm, and behind her Sakura could see Gloria's suitcases and the gilded cage containing her owl.

"Oh, and you have company too. I don't think we've met. I'm Gloria, originally from Windsor's Preparatory Academy for Witches and now a second-year Gryffindor," Gloria said so smoothly that Sakura could easily believe that it had been rehearsed.

"I'm Syaoran Li. From... well... Hong Kong. This will be my first year here," Syaoran said, much less smoothly than Gloria's introduction had gone.

Syaoran stood up and held his hand out. Gloria had to juggle her suitcases and her newspaper a bit before she could free her hand enough to shake Syaoran's.

"Syaoran you say. Are you that famous boyfriend that Sakura's kept telling us about?" Gloria asked.

"Gloria," Sakura protested, her cheeks turning pink with a blush.

"I guess so," Syaoran said, his cheeks also flushing at this comment.

"Right. Well great to finally meet you. It's always nice when somebody from the colonies decides to come visit and learn a bit about how things should really be done," Gloria said as she started putting her suitcases away.

"You don't say?" Syaoran said, flat voiced.

Gloria either didn't notice or didn't care about what Syaoran said. She continued, "It's got to be so rough out in the colonies, so far from civilization. I'm surprised more of you don't try to visit, although I expect that immigration makes that a bit tough. Still, lucky for you to get a chance to come to Hogwarts. Best school in the Empire, you know?"

Syaoran was turning a bit red in the face, and Sakura was pretty sure that it wasn't due to embarrassment this time. Trying to head off an outright outburst, Sakura interrupted by raising the one topic she was sure would catch Gloria's interest. She said, "So we were talking about Quidditch before. Why do they give so many points to the Seeker who catches the Snitch? It makes everything else in the game pointless, doesn't it?"

True to form, Gloria easily let herself be switched to talking about one of her favorite subjects. "Oh, 150 points isn't that many in the grand scheme of things. It only seems like that because of how good Harry is compared to everybody else. He makes the games at Hogwarts end fast. When the teams are better matched the games can go on for hours, sometimes even days, like the Quidditch World Cup of 1990. When the scores end up in the thousands, the Snitch is as often as not just a formality to finalize the win."

As she explained, Gloria continued to stow her luggage away. She finished by sliding her gilded cage on top of her suitcases. Nobody paid much attention as Siufui and the new arrival to the storage racks started hooting back and forth.

"That sounds like a bit of a crazy sport if you ask me. Who'd want to watch a game which could last for days? For that matter, who'd want to play in one?" Syaoran asked.

"I would, for one. Too bad this year's Quidditch World Cup was only 3 hours 42 minutes long. Exciting enough to be there, but given the rain you'd think it'd have gone on longer," Gloria said, taking a seat beside Sakura. "Other than that, my summer's been pretty boring. How about you? What did you do over the holiday?"

Syaoran was the first to answer, saying, "Not very much. I spent most of it trying to arrange to come to Hogwarts to be with Sakura-chan."

"You arranged it yourself?" Sakura asked. She had assumed that Syaoran's coming had been arranged by Kaho and Eriol, much like her own trip had been.

"Yeah. Professor Mizuki helped some with the school admissions, but getting the permits to come here and arranging payment and everything else I had to do all on my own. My mother thinks I should learn to rely on myself," Syaoran said.

"Wow. That sounds like a lot of work," Sakura said, impressed.

"I wouldn't even know how to get started," Gloria agreed.

"It wasn't that bad. Just a lot of paperwork and waiting around for the right people to get the right forms from the right people. Immigration, and school records, and everything," Syaoran explained. "At least setting up my account at Gringotts was easy."

"Was it? We'll have to tell Lisa later. I'm sure she'll be happy to hear that," Sakura said.

"Lisa... Lisa..." Syaoran slowly repeated to himself. "That's that girl we met on that shopping trip, right?"

"That's right, kid. Her father works at Gringotts," Keroberos confirmed.

"You met up with Lisa and didn't invite me?" Gloria asked.

"Not exactly. We just ran into her in Diagon Alley when we went shopping for school supplies. Actually, now that I think about it, where is Lisa? I thought she'd join Syaoran-kun and me. Have you seen her?" Sakura asked. She reflexively looked around in search of her friend as she asked this, as if she could see through the walls which surrounded her. As expected, she could only see the two solid walls and two windowed walls which comprised the cabin, and the windows merely gave the view of the corridor and the view of the outside scenery which she had already stared at for hours.

"I saw her a few cars down that way with Wayne," Gloria said, pointing towards the caboose of the train. "You know how those two are sometimes. I thought they'd prefer to be alone."

"Ah... young love," Keroberos said, hugging himself and floating in a circle in the air.

"Oh, what about you, Sakura? What did you end up doing over the holiday? Your letters didn't really say," Gloria asked.

Sakura had intentionally kept her letters vague and general. It was easy enough to talk about the mundane over the mail, but she didn't want to accidentally say something which would reveal her magical nature when communicating through an insecure mechanism so she hadn't talked at all about the practice and experiments which had made up a good portion of her break from school.

"Well besides what I've already told you I practiced a lot of magic, I guess. Some charms and..." Sakura started explaining before being interrupted.

"You did?" Gloria interjected abruptly. She then leaned closer to Sakura and asked in a quiet voice, "What about the Trace?"

"What's the Trace?" Sakura, Keroberos, and Syaoran asked in chorus. None of them paid any attention to the semi-secretive way Gloria was talking.

Gloria ignored the fact that the others in the room ignored her quieter voice and continued to speak in a voice which was hard to make out over the clattering of the wheels below them. "Remember how they said not to use magic at the end of the term? It's actually illegal for children under the age of 17 to use magic. The Trace is how the Ministry of Magic enforces that. It detects when somebody too young uses magic and notifies the aurors and the ministry."

"That's dumb," Syaoran exclaimed. "If you can't use magic then how are you supposed to practice and get better?"

"Don't ask me. That's what I keep telling my parents, but they never listen," Gloria protested, back in her normal voice.

"Well I don't know about this Trace or anything, but nobody said anything about my magic so far," Sakura said hesitantly.

"Really?" Gloria asked, speculatively. "I wonder if I can get my family to change our Winter Holiday plans. A trip to the wilderness would be a lot more exciting than visiting a place like Belgium again."

* * *

"Is it wrong for me to hate the summer?" Anthony asked the group at large. He sat next to Syaoran and across from Gloria.

Taken off-guard by the question, Sakura asked, "Hoe? Why do you hate the summer?"

"It's tourist season and it's always busy," Anthony complained.

"But if your inn is busy, isn't that a good thing for business?" Sakura asked.

"Probably, but it also means my brother runs me ragged," Anthony explained.

"Your brother? I thought your parents run your inn," Gloria asked.

"They do, but they give all these jobs to my brother, who then gives them all to me. They say they're training him to take over, but I think he just likes to make me do stuff," Anthony said.

"It sounds like he's a bit of a jerk," Syaoran remarked.

"Oh, he's just a brother. They're all jerks," Gloria remarked. Sakura nodded to Gloria's axiomatic wisdom.

"Hey. I'm a brother," Syaoran protested.

"You are?" Gloria asked. "Older or younger?"

"Youngest. I have four sisters," Syaoran said. He gave a sigh of exasperation.

"I see. Maybe it's just older brothers," Gloria said.

"And sisters," Syaoran added.

Sakura nodded knowingly. She hadn't met Syaoran's sisters for long, but her brief encounters with his strange siblings made her feel sympathy for Syaoran. They were enough to make her thankful to only have Toya for a brother.

"Well, maybe. At least it's all over for this year. Now I get to go to Hogwarts and he has to do all that stuff on his own," Anthony said, a big grin coming to his face.

"Nice. I'm envious," Gloria said. "Say, can you take my brother too? I'm sure he'd be a great help around the inn."

"Sure. Sounds like a good deal to me; but how are we going to get the Hogwarts Express to stop at my inn so we can kick your brother off?" Anthony asked in good humor.

"Anything off the cart, dears?" a voice asked from the door, interrupting the plotting of the second-year Ravenclaw and Gryffindor.

Sakura looked up to see an elderly dimpled woman with a trolley loaded up with a wide assortment of lollipops, cakes, bags, and boxes. It wasn't as wide an assortment as from the shop Sakura and Gloria had visited the previous year, but it still had a considerable assortment. It had the additional advantage of being right in front of them and easy at hand, as well.

However Sakura wasn't very hungry, and even if she had been she still had the lunch which Eriol and Kaho had prepared for her. She politely declined, "No thank you. I'm not very hungry."

"Aww... Sakura, what about me? Can't you get something for me?" Keroberos asked from near the window, where he had placed himself after the addition of Anthony to the group. The woman startled slightly at the voice, but then hid her surprise in the face of the potential sale.

"Trust Keroberos to never turn down the opportunity for some snacks," Syaoran said from his corner of the room, shaking his head. Keroberos stuck his tongue out at Syaoran, but didn't actually say anything at this most critical moment of the negotiations.

"So how about it, love? Why not get a Liquorice Wand for the... uhh... creature," the elderly witch suggested.

Sakura thought about it for a moment or two, than capitulated. She said, "Okay, I'll get a Liquorice Wand."

While Keroberos cheered in the background, Sakura pulled out a small stack of silver Sickles and received the candy wand and some bronze Knuts in return. She then put the Knuts away and handed the treat to Keroberos.

"I'll have a chocolate frog," Gloria said, handing over the requisite coins.

"Nothing for me, thanks," Anthony said, waving with his hand at the same time.

"How about you, love?" the lady then asked Syaoran.

Syaoran looked at the cart for a few seconds, then said, "Sure, I'll try something. What do you recommend?"

"Why not try a Pumpkin Pastie? They're really good this time, and only cost 8 Sickles and 15 Knuts," the lady assured him.

"Sure, I'll try one," Syaoran said, getting out a handful of coins. "Sickles are the silver ones, right?"

Anthony and Gloria rolled their eyes at each other, leaving Sakura to explain, "That's right. Sickles are the silver ones."

Syaoran managed to put together the right number of coins after that without any undue effort and received the wrapped pastie in return.

With the cabin now successfully sold to, the elderly witch bid them all a good day and moved to push the cart onward. As she pushed, before she could get fully out of view, somebody else came from the direction of the engine of the train. The luggage the girl carried made it a bit of a squeeze for her to get past the trolley. The girl was far younger than the woman who had just sold them some snacks, and while her bushy brown hair was somewhat more managed than the last time Sakura had seen her, Sakura was still able to easily identify the figure of Hermione.

"Hey there, Gloria. Have you seen Harry anywhere? Or Ron? I searched the whole train but couldn't find either of them," Hermione asked her fellow Gryffindor sitting next to the door.

"I haven't, but I've been here the whole time. Why don't you try asking the Percy? Or the twins? They'd know where Ron is," Gloria suggested.

"I did. I ran into Fred back there," Hermione said, gesturing towards the front of the train she had just come from. "He said Ron was probably playing some prank and not to worry about it."

"Ron?" Gloria asked in surprise. "He was never much for pranks."

"Yeah. That's what I thought. Well, I've got to get a seat before I have to carry this thing all the way to Hogwarts," Hermione said, slightly lifting up her luggage.

"Sounds like a good idea. I'd offer for you to join us, but as you can see we're a bit full," Gloria said, gesturing to the other three passengers in the cabin.

"That's okay. Say, if you see Harry or Ron, could you let them know I'm looking for them?" Hermione asked. "I'm going to try to get a seat near the back of the train."

"Sure thing," Gloria agreed before the young witch continued to the right of the cabin.

Keroberos and Syaoran were already halfway through their respective snacks.

"Oh, by the way, Syaoran, I forgot to ask you before. Can we see your book too?" Gloria asked before ripping open the boxed chocolate frog and proceeding to munch on it without giving it even the opportunity to try to escape.

"Book? What book?" Syaoran asked.

"Your book," Anthony followed up. "You know. The one you use to cast magic?"

"I guess so, but aren't they the same ones you had last year? Which one do you want? 'The Standard Book of Spells?'" Syaoran asked, getting up from his seat.

"No. I meant your magic book," Gloria said.

"Yeah. It can't be pink like Sakura's is, right? I want to see what kind of book the boys get," Anthony said.

"What are you talking about?" Syaoran asked.

"I think they're talking about the book that holds the Sakura Cards," Sakura explained.

"I see," Syaoran said, sitting back down. "Well, in that case, I don't have a book like that."

"Sure you don't..." Anthony said skeptically.

"No, really, I don't," Syaoran said.

"Oh, really? I thought all you people had magic books. How do you cast your spells then?" Gloria asked.

"I just do it on my own. I usually use my sword, but whatever works," Syaoran said with a shrug.

"Your sword?" Anthony asked.

"Sword? Can you show us?" Gloria asked.

"I guess so," Syaoran said. He stood up again and then pulled out the small orb which was his jian when it wasn't in use.

Without nearly the same amount ceremony that Sakura used when summoning the Key, which was understandable as Syaoran obviously didn't have somebody as interested in showmanship as Tomoyo was, he let the orb drop and hang by a string while the sword materialized in the air, the orb suddenly dangling from the back of the sword's hilt. Once fully formed, he grabbed the weapon and held it fast.

"Oh. Right. Sword," Gloria said.

"So what can you do with it?" Anthony asked.

"Well, there's a lot of stuff, like..." Syaoran started saying before the door to the cabin opened and caught all their attention.

The opened door revealed a small girl with blonde hair as straggly and unkempt as Hermione's had been bushy. She had an ethereal atmosphere about her and she gave the distinct impression of not quite being all there. She didn't even seem to notice, let alone be fazed by, the fact that Syaoran was still facing the door with a deadly weapon in hand.

Whatever else this girl might have been, she had some power to her. Not a lot of power, but Sakura felt from her a slight hint of the same fuzzy feeling that she got around Syaoran, Kaho, Dumbledore, and a few others. Compared to what was typical in the United Kingdom, even in Hogwarts, it stood out like a tall mast in the middle of the ocean.

Sakura took a quick glance at Syaoran, who nodded back in answer to her unvoiced question. He felt it too. Even so, he put his sword away before he accidentally cut somebody and then retook his seat.

After several seconds of waiting for the girl to say, or indeed do, something, Gloria eventually asked pointedly, "Can we help you?"

This caused the girl to turn her head down and look at Gloria. She said in a voice as uncommitted as her face looked, "No. I was just looking for a seat and you're the most interesting group in the train. I checked everywhere else already."

Gloria and Anthony exchanged a glance, quite different than the one Sakura and Syaoran had exchanged earlier. Anthony then said, "Well it's a bit tight in here already. We barely have room for everybody as it is."

"That's very generous, but you don't need to go. I can sit here," the girl said.

Despite not being a native to the United Kingdom, even Sakura had understood Anthony's comment as being a polite invitation for the girl to leave. However, following through on her words, the girl pulled in a suitcase, placed it on the floor in front of the door, and then sat directly on it with her back to the corridor behind her. That she blocked the entrance to the cabin didn't seem to matter to her at all.

Anthony caught the eye of Sakura and sent yet another meaningful glance her way. Both its question and assertion were loud and clear to her, although she had no answer to as to either what the girl was doing here or how to get rid of the interloper.

Ignoring the silent messages being passed around the people in the cabin, the girl pulled a newspaper out from the back of her pants, opened it up, and started reading it. It was held at a low enough angle that Sakura could see the page the girl was looking at. It featured a picture of what appeared to be an empty street. Above the picture, the "FLOPPERGUMP INFESTATION GROWING" headline could easily be read.

It took Sakura a second to realize what was wrong. The reason she was able to read the newspaper so easily was that it was oriented towards her, which meant the girl blocking the entrance to the cabin was actually reading the newspaper upside down.

More questioning looks passed around the room before Keroberos finally said, "If you're going to sit with us, you should at least give us your name."

The girl looked up at the floating yellow plushie-like Keroberos, and then for the first time since her entrance her gaze sharpened and she said in excitement, "Wow. A heliopath. Coming to Hogwarts. You all see that too, right? I'll have to tell dad. Do any of you want to be in the papers? It'll make the front page for sure."

"Hey. I'm not some, what'd you call it, heliopath. My name's Keroberos," Keroberos said.

"You aren't?" the girl asked, somewhat disappointed.

"No, he isn't. He's... well... he's kind of my familiar. My name's Sakura, and this is Syaoran, Gloria, and Anthony. You never told us your name?" Sakura prompted.

"No, I didn't," the girl answered.

"Right," Sakura said, confused. She was sure she had said that English phrase correctly.

"She's asking what your name is," Syaoran said with a touch of anger to his voice.

"She is? Then why didn't she ask?" the girl asked back.

"What is your name?" Gloria tried one last time, biting out each word one at a time.

"My name's Luna," the girl said, finally naming herself. "Luna Lovegood."

Gloria rolled her eyes, although she snapped them back to the front when Luna's gaze happened to wander her way.

Another awkward silence befell the room. None of the original inhabitants seemed inclined to talk to each other with the unwelcome guest and eavesdropper present; and Luna, either intentionally or not, made it difficult to talk to her.

Eventually Sakura tried to break the silence again, asking, "Why are you reading that newspaper upside down?"

"It's to prevent people from reading over my shoulder," Luna answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Is that a problem?" Anthony asked, looking a bit sheepish and directing his gaze pointedly away from the newspaper he had previously been staring at.

"Not when I read upside down," Luna answered him.

"But you do realize that we can read it when you hold it that way, right?" Syaoran asked. His angle in the cabin gave him as good a view of the newspaper as Sakura had of it.

"My dad's an editor of the Quibbler, so the more readers we get the better," Luna answered.

Before anybody could challenge her on the inherent contradiction of her reasoning, the familiar figure of one of the Weasley twins appeared from the direction of the caboose of the train. He caught sight of Gloria, and pushed open the door. Before he could say anything, though, Gloria pointed and exclaimed, "George!"

"Nope. I'm Fred. Better luck next time," Fred answered.

Luna had turned her head to look behind her at the new intruder, but didn't otherwise adjust her seat. However she did put her newspaper away.

"Oh, shoot. I thought I had it this time," Gloria said.

"That's Fred Weasley," Sakura said, introducing Syaoran to half of the infamous Weasley pair.

"Fred Weasley..." Syaoran said, looking up in thought. "He's one of those twins you said was always causing trouble, right?"

Sakura's heart jumped and she looked away in nervous embarrassment. While it was true that she had told that to Syaoran, as well as to the others back in Japan when describing her myriad of experiences in Hogwarts, she hadn't expected him to actually repeat it out loud. And repeat it to Fred's face, no less. She started quickly thinking through anything else she might have told him that she would need to ask him to keep to himself.

"Trouble? Me? What's a horrible and pernicious thing to say," Fred said in mock indignation.

"But it's true," Gloria said, almost managing to suppress her snickering.

"Well of course it's true, but it's all just one big coincidence, let me assure you," Fred declared. "Care to buy anything before we get to Hogwarts? We have a special discount on Dungbombs today."

"Aren't Dungbombs banned from the school?" Sakura asked.

"That was last year. They haven't said that they're banned this year," Fred innocently suggested. "Yet."

"Never mind that they've been banned in every year for as long as anybody can remember," Anthony said.

"Exactly," Fred agreed. "Want any?"

"No, I'm fine," Sakura said, certain that anything a Weasley twin was selling was something she didn't want.

"I'll pass too," Syaoran said.

Anthony shook his head as well.

"Come on. You Ravenclaws are no fun. How about you, Gloria? I'm sure you'll want at least something before we get to Hogwarts. It'll be a couple days before we get the shop all set up, after all," Fred said, holding out a box of Dungbombs temptingly.

"Well I suppose I could use some Backtalk..." Gloria started saying, but then interrupted herself by pointing and shouting, "George!"

Fred's twin brother had just come from the left. He said to Gloria, "Nope. I'm Fred. Better luck next time."

"Wait. You just said that you were Fred. That means that you must be George," Sakura defended Gloria's declaration, pointing at the two brothers in turn.

"That's right, I'm Fred," Fred said in response to Sakura.

"Nope, I'm Fred," Fred said in contradiction to Sakura's deduction and Fred's assertion.

"No, I'm quite sure I'm Fred," Fred said.

"No, we agreed about this before, remember? I'm Fred today," Fred said.

"Yes, we agreed, but it was that I was Fred today," Fred said.

"But you got to be Fred yesterday," Fred complained.

"Fine. How about we compromise. You can be Fred, and I'll be Fred," Fred said.

"Deal," Fred said, shaking Fred's hand.

Sakura looked back and forth between the two twins. By the time they had reached an agreement she was thoroughly confused. The other inhabitants of the room looked just as confused as she felt, with the sole exception of Luna. Then again, given how Luna had acted thus far, that really could have meant anything.

"Oh? So if you're both Fred then where's George?" Gloria challenged.

The two Freds looked at each other, then turned back to Gloria and asked in perfect synchronization, "Who's George?" Even the tenor of confusion in their voices matched.

"Okay, okay, whatever. Anyway, Fred," Gloria said, overemphasizing the name while shaking her head, "I'll take a pack of Backtalk Gum and some Whizzing Worms." She pulled out some coins, and was immediately faced with both brothers holding out their hands to receive the payment.

There was a bit of confusion as Gloria tried to figure who should receive the coins and who was supposed to give her her purchases. She ended up giving her payment to the Fred on the right, and taking her purchases from the Fred on the left. Once everything had successful changed hands, Fred continued on his way towards the front of the train, whereas Fred turned and continued on his way towards the back of the train.

"Weird," Syaoran said.

The second-year students in the room shrugged in silent agreement. After a year in Hogwarts, everybody had become at least partially inured to the strangeness of the Weasley twins.

"So what's that you just bought?" Keroberos asked Gloria.

"Oh, this? Just some Backtalk Gum and some Whizzing Worms. Here, let me show you," Gloria said. She then unwrapped the pack of gum, took a piece out, stuck it in her mouth, and started loudly chewing with her mouth open.

"See? It's just some gum," Gloria said. What was strange was that her voice was coming from beneath Luna. "Help, help, I'm stuck in here."

"What're you doing in there, Gloria?" Luna asked. She climbed to her feet and turned around to open the case she had been sitting on.

Looks of disbelief flew across the room. Sakura forced herself to state the obvious, telling Luna, "I don't think she's actually in there."

"No, I'm really not," Gloria admitted, this time doing a passable job of making her voice sound like it was coming from Syaoran's mouth rather than where she actually sat.

"That's a relief. I was in a hurry to pack last night and was worried I had accidentally packed Gloria by mistake," Luna admitted before regaining her seat.

"Neat trick," Keroberos said.

"But enough about this. You were going to show us some magic, weren't you, Syaoran?" Gloria asked. This time the sound came from behind Sakura's head.

"Right. I almost forgot," Syaoran said. He got back to his feet and re-readied his sword. He didn't move for a bit then said, "The problem is everything I can think of is too dangerous to cast in here."

"Oh. How about we go out to the corridor then?" Gloria suggested.

"There might be enough room, but it'd still be dangerous," Syaoran said.

"Come off it. If you are that scared of being shown for a fraud just say so. You're not fooling anybody. Like a first-year from the colonies could really do anything that dangerous," Anthony dismissed Syaoran's prevarications.

"What'd you say?" Syaoran asked hostilely.

"I said that I doubt anybody from the colonies really can do anything that special so don't worry about it. Just stop going on about it being too dangerous," Anthony reiterated.

Sakura sympathized with her boyfriend. Even she was starting to get a bit annoyed with the frequent mention of the colonies, and she wasn't even from there.

"Well, fine, I'll show you, but I'll need a target. Sakura, can you come and cast a shield? You three had better watch from in here," Syaoran said.

Sakura moved to do what Syaoran asked, but at the mentioning of shielding she got a really bad feeling. It was a bit tricky to get out of the room, Luna still blocking the way as she was. Eventually they manged to get her to move and got into the substantially more spacious hallway.

"I'm going to cast a lightning bolt. Can you shield everything?" Syaoran asked Sakura.

"I guess so," Sakura said, her feelings of trepidation getting worse. Still, after a quick check to make sure no strangers were watching, she subtly summoned the Key and pulled out The Shield. She subsequently used The Shield to protect everything in the hallway, including and especially herself and the other people. She then reminded him, "Make sure nobody else is in the hallway."

"I'll be careful. Okay, Anthony, are you watching?" Syaoran called out. After waiting for a second, he pulled out one of his ofuda, pushed against it with the flat of his jian, and shouted, "Raitei Shourai!"

Several streaks of electricity shot out from Syaoran towards the shielded Sakura. They bounced off of her shield with little effect, ricocheted off of the door to their cabin, and then blasted into the window directly across from the cabin. The window, which truth be told Sakura didn't especially care about, didn't take the hit very well. It blew outward with a large explosion.

Immediately a whistle from the front of the train gave a loud warning and the train came screeching to a halt.

Sakura and Syaoran looked at each other, and then both ran back into the cabin, slamming the door closed behind them.

Syaoran moved to take his seat, and Sakura did the same until she noticed that Luna had already taken it while she had been out of the room. Even Luna's suitcase had disappeared, presumably shoved onto a storage rack above.

"Hoe?" Sakura asked.

Gloria saw what the problem was and scooted over on the bench, squeezing Luna a bit tight and making enough room for Sakura herself to sit on the bench in a snug fit.

"Maybe that wasn't such a good idea," Syaoran admitted, voicing what Sakura had been thinking the whole time.

"You mean blowing up the train? What made you think that it would be?" Anthony said, earning a scowl from Syaoran.

"Oh, relax. If we just act innocent then everything will be fine. It's not like anybody saw anything, right?" Gloria said. Sakura was forced to rely on Gloria's superior knowledge of how to handle the situation, earned through the numerous pranks and close calls she had had in the past.

As per Gloria's suggestion, when the first adult came to visit, Professor Lockhart as it turned out, nobody went out to check what he was doing. Instead they all sat in their seats, scrunched as it might be for the girls, and tried to act as innocent and confused as possible.

They couldn't hear anything through the doors, but they did see Professor Lockhart pull out his wand and wave it a few times. He then looked up and behind him at some unheard activity, where upon Professor Sprout hustled by at a remarkably quick pace given her short stature and rotund nature. She started saying something to Professor Lockhart, who only shined his award-winning brilliant smile back at her. This seemed to do little to appease the woman as she continued by shouting something at the man.

Kaho showed up moments later, walking by quickly. She spared a look over to both Sakura and Syaoran. It was a rather pointed look. Sakura felt a pang of guilt at that. However Kaho didn't slow down or otherwise react to the children.

Once Kaho arrived and said something which the door muffled, Professor Sprout seemed to settle a bit while Professor Lockhart put his wand away.

Seconds later a gristly man in overalls showed up as well. He made his way to the large hole, gruffly pushing Professor Lockhart to the side to do so, and carefully examined the window. He then pulled out his wand, waved it, and a large piece of wood appeared and covered the hole.

With the hole temporarily covered, the gristly man trudged his way back towards the front of the train. Kaho and Professor Sprout followed immediately after him, leaving Professor Lockhart staring at the repair job for a few seconds. He then pulled out his wand, waved it twice at the patch, and then strutted away after the man and the two professors.

"See? Just like I told you," Gloria said happily once the train started moving again.

"This would make a good article for tomorrow's Quibbler," Luna mused out loud, making Sakura dread what would happen when, not if, word of this got around the school and possibly out even further.

* * *

Last Updated: June 27, 2013


	4. 4: Sakura and the Other Side of Sorting

Chapter 4: Sakura and the Other Side of Sorting

It had taken a majority of the train ride, but the conversation Sakura was having with her friends plus one unexpected-and-not-entirely-welcome addition eventually turned to the topic of school houses.

Luna seemed to be the most ambivalent, saying, "I don't care."

"Don't care? How can you not care?" Anthony asked in a shocked tone of voice.

"Well it doesn't really matter," Luna stated.

"Yes it does. It affects lots of things, like who you go to classes with and who your head of house is," Sakura started counting off on her fingers. It was true that prior to going to Hogwarts she had held a position similar to Luna's, in her case more from ignorance than thinking it didn't matter, but she had learned over the previous year how much one's house affected things in both obvious and subtle ways.

"Not to mention the reputation you get both in school and after you graduate," Gloria was quick to add from her chair in front of the door to the cabin. Sometime after the explosion and subsequent repair, she had gone out and retrieved a chair from somewhere and brought it into their cabin to sit on. It gave everybody a bit more sitting space, and possibly violated some health and safety regulation.

"Does it?" Luna asked in the same unconcerned tone that Sakura had come to associate with the odd girl. It gave the impression that Luna either hadn't understood something, or simply didn't care. By Luna's own declaration, it was probably the latter. "Then they must be careful to make sure we get selected for the right house, so I still don't care."

"I don't know about you, but I sure care. I'm going to go to Ravenclaw," Syaoran declared. His emphatic conviction made for a strong contrast to Luna's ambivalence.

"You are? What makes you so sure of that?" Anthony asked.

"Sakura's in Ravenclaw, so obviously I should go to the same place she is," Syaoran said, almost managing to not stutter slightly.

Sakura smiled at Syaoran, who smiled back at her.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure it doesn't work that way. I thought for sure I'd be sorted into Slytherin because of my brother, but I ended up in Gryffindor," Gloria said, causing reality to come crashing back down on Sakura. Right. There was the hat, and the sorting ceremony, and all of that. Sakura had completely forgotten that there was a very real chance that Syaoran wouldn't end up in the same house as her.

"Yeah. There's this big test. They got this lion, badger, snake, and raven, and you got to catch one of them with your bare hands. Whichever one you catch first they put you in that house," Anthony said. "You should go after the raven, it's the safest one to handle, but you need to use your head in order to trap it, which is why we got the reputation for being the smart ones in Ravenclaw."

Luna nodded in understanding at the explanation of how the sorting worked.

"Come off it. I already know all about the sorting ceremony. We're just supposed to put on this dusty hat and it tells us where to go," Syaoran said, slightly annoyed.

"But don't forget what I told you about how it feels too. It felt all icky and weird... like... like... something bad or something," Sakura quickly added. She didn't really have the words to describe how violated she had felt by the experience, let alone the words to describe it in English. "At least it's over fast."

"Icky?" Gloria and Anthony both asked in confusion, looking at Sakura.

Anthony quickly recovered, saying, "Right, icky. It's terrible. I can't even begin to describe how awful it felt, like I was going to be sick right then and there. Can you imagine how embarrassing that'd be, to start classes by being sick in front of the whole school?"

Keroberos gave Anthony a bonk on the head, interrupting his rant, and then accused him, "You're just making all that up. It's nothing like that."

"Like you know anything about the sorting. You weren't even there," Syaoran came to the defense of his fellow human, and not coincidentally intentionally picking a fight with Keroberos. It wasn't the first time Syaoran had done so on the train, not counting the times Keroberos had returned the favor and picked a fight with him.

It was the way that Keroberos and Syaoran preferred to interact with each other. Sakura didn't pretend to understand how those two boys treated each other, but they both seemed to enjoy their skirmishes over nothing in particular so Sakura just let them go at it. It wasn't like there was any particular malice in their voices, after all.

"I didn't have to be there. Can't you tell this kid is lying? First that capturing garbage and now this nonsense. It's written all over his face," Keroberos said.

"Yeah, right. What do you know about that?" Syaoran accused Keroberos with his normal facade of hostility.

"Oh, by the way," Gloria interrupted the timing the two before they could really get going, "I've been meaning to ask you. You do know that Keroberos transforms into this giant lion, right? Should you really be arguing with him that much?"

"I know," Syaoran said dismissively. "It doesn't matter. He's still a twit."

"And you're still a brat," Keroberos said his usual response.

"You mean that small thing? He can change into a lion?" Luna asked without any of the trepidation of a believer or the cynicism of a disbeliever in her voice.

"I have a name you know," Keroberos protested.

"That's right. He can turn into this big, flying, fire-breathing lion," Gloria confirmed.

"I see. Wow," Luna said. Her non-committal tone of voice was bereft of the wonder normally expected for somebody suitably impressed.

Anthony, on the other hand, had a more typical mix of hope and fear in his voice as he asked, "You're kidding. Aren't you?"

Sakura, Syaoran, and Gloria all shook their heads.

"I see. Right then," Anthony said. A new tone of respect could now be heard in his voice. Or maybe it was fear.

Gloria quickly changed the subject, saying, "Even if you don't end up in Ravenclaw with Sakura, it's not the end of the world. I was a bit torn up about not getting into Slytherin, but it turned out to be for the best. I'd hate to be in the same class as that git, Draco, with his merry band of dunderheads; and I got to be in the same class as the famous Harry Potter."

Sakura didn't remember Gloria being especially torn up when the Sorting Hat had placed her in Gryffindor, but who was she to contradict her friend? Instead, she added, "And we can still spend time together, even if you don't end up in the same house as me."

"Just not in classes or after curfew," Anthony said. "Then again, even if you do get into Ravenclaw, you'd still be in a different year than Sakura and will have all different classes, so not much luck there either."

"But I can still help you study for your homework. I already took all of your classes last year," Sakura said, trying to find a silver lining to that particular cloud. It did little good. When the first announcement that they would soon be arriving at Hogwarts came shortly thereafter, Sakura was still under the depression that Anthony had caused with his reminder of basic facts that she already knew but didn't want to acknowledge.

* * *

Along with Gloria and Luna, Sakura changed into her school skirt and robe which she would wear for the majority of her time in the United Kingdom. Syaoran and Anthony had stepped out to give them some privacy and to ensure sure no traffic went through the corridor. Keroberos had stepped out as well because, although Sakura had long grown accustomed to his presence in her bedroom years ago, Gloria wasn't quite comfortable with him watching her change.

It felt just as strange as the last time she had changed in front of the large windows of the train cabin. Strange, but safe, as far as Sakura could tell. Nobody was in sight outside the windows in the countryside, and none of the boys in the hallway had peeped on any of the three girls either as far as she could see from her frequent checks of them.

The girls then stepped out of the room and gave Syaoran and Anthony some privacy to change into their uniforms as well. No corridor traffic passed by then either.

Upon re-entering the room, Sakura thought that Syaoran cut a particularly dashing figure in his dark robes and pants. The only real difference between his uniform and Anthony's might have been the lack of the Ravenclaw house emblem and tie, but Sakura still thought that Syaoran just looked better.

The act of changing into the school uniforms changed the entire atmosphere of the room. It was no longer just a simple, albeit long, train ride through the countryside with some friends. The uniforms had brought with them a much more somber tone, and the room was now the antechamber in preparation for classes to start. Anxiety, tension, and restlessness permeated the air, and the children were satisfied to spend the last few minutes of the journey staring out at the dark, star-filled sky in silence.

"We'll be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately," a voice echoed throughout the train, interrupting the almost meditative trance Sakura had fallen into as she stared out of the window.

"We're seriously supposed to leave our stuff here?" Syaoran asked.

"Yes. They brought them up to our dorm rooms last year after we were sorted," Sakura said.

"This time I'm going with you too," Keroberos asserted, flying into a familiar pocket of Sakura's robe.

"Kero-chan. You're not even allowed to go to the Great Hall during meal times. I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to be there for the sorting ceremony," Sakura said.

"I don't care. I'm not hanging around here with Siufui all on my own," Keroberos answered, pointing accusingly at Syaoran's owl. Almost on cue, the owl pecked loudly on one of the bars of her cage towards Keroberos.

"Relax. It's not like anything's ever happened whenever we brought Keroberos there before," Gloria said, taking her usual role of enabler of mischief.

"They'll be lots to eat there, too, and I'm hungry," Keroberos added.

"You're always hungry," Syaoran said.

Keroberos didn't dignify Syaoran's statement with a response, besides the raspberry he blew in the boy's direction.

"Okay. I guess it'll be fine," Sakura agreed. She didn't really mind that much. It just meant that she and Keroberos would need to be careful to not cause a scene. Given the feast that was typically put out during celebrations, it would take a fair bit of self-control on Keroberos's part, but she was sure that he would be up to the challenge.

Mostly sure he would be up for the challenge.

* * *

The train slowly drew to a stop in the same station it had stopped at in 1991, and most likely had stopped at for the past hundred years. Once again the platform started filling with the hustling and bustling of people trying to get their first breath of genuinely fresh air after spending hours in the stale confines of the Hogwarts Express.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go," Syaoran said, urging the rest of the passengers to hurry up.

Maybe it was due to the crowded nature of having a fifth person in the room, but nobody seemed inclined to wait that extra bit for the corridors to clear. They instead forced their way into the crowd, pushing outward into the cool evening air.

"Oh, what a gorgeous night. I wish we could go on that boat ride again," Gloria remarked, half to herself and half to the group.

The waxing crescent moon provided little in the way of illumination, but it did provide a great deal of atmosphere in the station. The still air made everything seem silent and surreal, surrounded as they were by the countless stars all around them. There were more stars than could be imagined from the perpetually-lit city of Tokyo. Sakura was sure it would be even more picturesque floating on the glassy water of the lake, surrounded by an ocean of reflected pinpricks of light. It was no wonder that the first-year students always took that scenic route towards the castle. It was a wonderful way to start an academic career.

Sakura took a quick look around to see if she could spot Lisa, but it proved to be a futile effort. There were just too many people to see more than the couple dozen children in her immediate vicinity; and even if she had been able to see through the mass of humanity surrounding her, the chances of spotting her friend in the throng of students was slim.

"Firs' years! Firs' years! Over here! Firs' years!" Hagrid's burly voice then called out, cutting through the deadened air and completely changing the tenor of the atmosphere. He was easy to spot in the crowd; both his height as well as the lantern he carried high above ensured that.

"I guess that's us then," Syaoran said.

"See you when you get there, Syaoran-kun," Sakura said.

As Sakura's eyes tracked her boyfriend's departure with Luna, she had to fight down the briefest touch of envy for the odd girl who had entered her cabin earlier in the day. Luna got to go to the school with Syaoran while Sakura herself had to go a different way. Sakura knew she would see Syaoran again within the hour, but that didn't help with the stab of envy she felt.

Syaoran and Luna briefly passed by the Weasley twins, who were flanking a little girl. The twins were pointing at Hagrid while undoubtedly making up some suitably humorous lie. Then the crowd shifted, and they were all lost to Sakura's sight.

"Come on. Let's go," Gloria said, directing Sakura and Anthony in the direction of the less romantic carriages which would take them to the ceremony.

The carriages were lined up in almost the exact opposite direction that Hagrid was leading Syaoran and the rest of the first-year students towards. There was a huge procession of vehicles, with enough space to carry all of the non-first-year students.

It quickly became apparent why there had been such a hurry to crowd out of the train. Much like the cabins in the Hogwarts Express, the carriages were quickly filling up. For the slightly slower students, that translated into a long walk to the back of the procession to find an empty carriage. For the final stragglers, it could also very well mean that friends would need to separate for the ride to the castle.

Sakura had overcome her innate fear of ghosts the previous year, but that didn't stop her from finding the strange winged horses in front of each of the carriages a bit scary. While they looked vaguely like ghosts, they were substantially more solid, which added extra weight to their existence. That existence itself was an inherently spooky one at that, with their gaunt bodies and large leathery wings. The dim light of the moon only made their large dark and leathery figures seem that much more foreboding. They were scary in the same sense that a pit full of snakes was scary. Sakura didn't honestly think that she was in any danger from them, but likewise not being able to fall into the pit didn't make the snakes inside any less fear-inducing.

"Why can't they just use ordinary horses for these carriages?" Sakura asked, strategically placing herself furthest from the ghostly horses as they walked down the line of vehicles.

"I imagine it'd be expensive to feed them all. Hogwarts has got to have a bigger budget than we do, but feeding horses gets expensive after a while. If you'd only use them a couple of time a year, I doubt it'd be worth it," Anthony said as the three of them walked past full-carriage after full-carriage.

"But those things," Sakura said, pointing at the creatures she didn't know the name of, "have to eat stuff too. It can't be any cheaper to use them instead of regular horses."

"What things?" Anthony asked.

"Those things. Those weird winged horse things," Sakura said, pointing at one of the mounts in front of a passing carriage.

"Oh no. Don't tell me that she's contagious," Gloria said. "I'm warning you, if you start talking about kruffles or jumping hexapoads or anything like that I'm leaving right now."

"Hoe?" Sakura asked, confused by her two friends' reactions. She didn't push it.

"Finally, an empty one," Anthony remarked as they started getting close to the end of the line. He let Gloria climb in first, followed by Sakura, before he entering the carriage himself.

"Hey, Gloria, mind if I join you?" a boy asked from the side of the carriage shortly after the three of them had settled. He wore the Gryffindor red and gold tie and house emblem on his robe, both easily visible in the dim light of the lantern hanging off the side of the vehicle.

Gloria looked in askance towards Sakura and Anthony. Sakura shrugged back. She would have loved it if Lisa could have joined them, but if she was with Wayne it was doubtful they would have enough space to fit all five of them.

Anthony shrugged back as well.

"Sure. Get in, Jack," Gloria said. She moved a bit over, which gave room for Sakura and Anthony to move in as well.

"Great, thanks," Jack said. He climbed in, turning the excessively spacious bench for three into a comfortable bench for four. "I'm Jack Sloper. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Anthony Goldstein," Anthony introduced himself with a wave.

"Sakura Kinomoto. It's a pleasure to meet you," Sakura introduced herself as well.

"So, Gloria, still thinking of trying out for the Quidditch team?" Jack asked.

"Of course," Gloria said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Given it was Gloria, it might have been. "You?"

"Of course," Jack responded, echoing Gloria's tone. "What position are you hoping for?"

"Not sure. Maybe a Chaser. How about you?" Gloria asked back.

"A Beater if I can get it," Jack answered back.

"Oh, good luck with that. Fred and George got those positions pretty well cornered," Gloria said.

As Gloria and Jack continued talking about Quidditch, Sakura leaned back and thought about the incredibly poor way the four of them were positioned. Sakura didn't especially care about Quidditch, and from past experience she knew Anthony didn't especially care about it either. However, there they were, trapped between the other two who were waxing poetic about their plans and hopes for the upcoming Quidditch season.

Neither of the Ravenclaw students even bothered chiming in with any cursory phrases to act like they were part of the conversation. Sakura doubted that either Gloria or Jack noticed, given how caught up they were in talking about players and plays. She just leaned her head back and tuned out the excited dialogue as the carriages started moving.

The vehicles quickly proceeded along some dirt roads; creaking, squeaking, and bumping up and down like it was the 1800s or earlier. It was atmospheric, to be sure, but it was also hard to really get comfortable. Sakura had to sit up to prevent knocking her head against the backrest every time the carriage gave a strong jostle.

Outside the window, a signpost directing the way both towards Hogwarts and towards a place called Hogsmead passed by. They went in the direction of Hogwarts.

In the distance, Sakura could see the fantastic castle where classes were held. It was from an angle she had never seen it before. She could still recognize various landmarks, such as the notably tall spires of Ravenclaw Tower, but it was an academic knowledge of the buildings which triggered none of the sense of familiarity she was accustom to having in the school itself.

It was a much less impressive view of Hogwarts Castle than the one she had seen during the approach by foot she had taken the previous year. The framing of the scene by the carriage window, which prevented her from seeing the entire majesty of the complex all at once, somehow cast the numerous stone facings and glowing windows in a much more mundane light. The distant moon in the background and the shadowed embankment in front of the stony facades of the building fought to counter this by adding a touch of atmosphere. However, even they were not able to compete with the awesome sight unveiled when that corner had been turned on that dirt path the first-years took, when the castle presented itself in all its glory to the tired students.

"What do you make of the train stopping on the way here? Do you know anything about it?" Jack asked, quickly cutting through the fog of Sakura's distraction and catching her attention.

Sakura unconsciously held her breath.

"No," Gloria casually lied through her teeth. As Sakura understood it, Gloria had had a fair bit of practice with that in the past. "Do you know anything about it?"

"Well, I heard," Jack said, saying the common preface for much of the gossip which was one of the de facto currencies of the school, "that there were these students who were showing off and one of them messed up a charm and broke the train."

Sakura might have been surprised by how fast the news had spread, but she had spent the previous year at Hogwarts so was well familiar how quickly news spread in that cloistered environment. That the entire student body was present on the train just made the process that much faster.

"Oh, really?" Gloria asked, surprise and interest in her voice. If Sakura didn't know better, she would have honestly thought that Gloria was hearing this for the first time. "Did you hear anything about that, Sakura?"

"No," Sakura said, trying to act as casually as Gloria did. She felt clumsy with the lie, but the way the dim light of the carriage masked her face and the fact Jack had only just met her made her think she could get away with it. "How about you, Anthony? Did you?"

"No," Anthony said, even more unconvincingly than Sakura.

"I don't know how true it is, but right before the train stopped I heard this big boom, and then all these professors went running to the back of the train. One of the engineers went chasing right after them," Jack said.

"I see," Sakura said, hoping that the subject would somehow get changed away from the debacles that she and Syaoran had gotten into.

Conveniently, the caravan had arrived at Hogwarts by this point, so Sakura wouldn't need to endure the worries of this particular conversation topic any longer. The carriage that Sakura rode in drew to a stop and she quickly followed Jack out of the vehicle, enjoying the freedom and relief much more than when she had escaped the Hogwarts Express earlier in the evening.

The four of them made their way into the Great Hall, joining the large collection of students on the same path. The majority of them had already taken their seats when Sakura, Gloria, Anthony, and Jack entered the large room which had been enchanted such that the ceiling showed the starry sky above, as if the ceiling was invisible.

At this point the two Ravenclaw students and the two Gryffindor students bid farewell to each other and split up to go to their respective tables. The start-of-term banquet was always treated much more formally than ordinary meals where students could sit wherever they liked. By unspoken understanding, all of the students sat in their respective houses.

Sakura and Anthony walked down the aisle in the middle of the room. Sakura kept her eyes peeled, searching through all of the students wearing Ravenclaw's colors for one face in particular. She didn't have to look far.

"Sakura. Anthony," Lisa called out, catching their attention. "There you are. I was starting to worry that I had missed you."

Lisa had saved two seats next to her which Sakura and Anthony were only too happy to take. They took their places on the long benches as the final stragglers entered the hallway.

"Did you hear about the train accident? I heard the reason we had stopped was because some students broke the train," Lisa said.

"Hoe," Sakura complained to herself.

It wasn't just Jack and Lisa, either. The fragments of conversation Sakura picked up around her all seemed to pertain to her and Syaoran's escapade on the train. While it wasn't as bad as starting her entire life in Hogwarts as "the girl who blew out a window of the Hogwarts Express," starting her second-year that way wasn't much more appealing.

"Yeah, we heard about it," Anthony said, shaking his head. "That bloody show-off."

Lisa looked back and forth between her two friends on either side of her. Her eyes widened and she asked in a quiet voice, "You are joking, right? You mean you were involved with that?"

As Lisa spoke, something ineffable around the room changed.

Sakura tightened her face but didn't respond. Anthony didn't say anything either. The lack of response was all Lisa needed.

"Why am I not surprised? It does seem like you are involved with all of the rumors around here, Sakura," Lisa said.

There was definitely something different about the room. The Gryffindor table was certainly talking louder now.

"That's not true. I almost never am. What about that big argument between Nearly Headless Nick and the Bloody Baron? Or that weird break-in in the Slytherin common room? And don't forget Professor Quirrel, either." Sakura said, naming some of the more prominent stories which had circulated the previous year.

"Fine, you might be right," Lisa conceded, "but you do seem to get into more trouble than most of the people here."

The commotion not only spread from the Gryffindor table to the Slytherin table, it also jumped across the large space in the center of the Great Hall to reach the Ravenclaw table. Sakura listened in a bit and then realized with a shock, and no insignificant amount relief, that the impossible had happened. Something had happened to knock news and speculation about the mysterious explosion and train stoppage off the top of the gossip list. Something even bigger than the breaking of the Hogwarts Express.

Harry Potter was missing.

Even now it seemed to be spreading to the Hufflepuff table as well. Many of the students were turning to get a better look at the Gryffindor table, searching for confirmation, as if they could actually see anything among the dozens upon dozens of faces there, half of which were facing away. Still it was a natural reflex and Sakura found herself doing the same thing, trying to spot the famous boy despite only having a passing familiarity with what he looked like.

What was going on? Was it some prank? Had something happened to The Boy Who Lived? Had anybody seen him on the Hogwarts Express? When was the last time anybody had actually seen him? Were they sure?

It seemed like this interest wasn't purely limited to the students, either. At the front of the room sat Professor Dumbledore and the various school teachers, and they seemed to be looking up and down the Gryffindor table as well, some more surreptitiously than others.

Professor Dumbledore leaned over to Professor Snape and said something impossible to make out through the din of excited conversation. Professor Snape glowered in response, a facial expression not foreign to his face and unmistakable to everybody in the room. He then rose to his feet and stalked to one of the doors.

Much like a stove being turned up, this action quickly and noticeably increased the tension in the Great Hall, bringing a commensurate increase in noise as well. That confirmed it. Harry must be missing. What were the professors going to do now? Why had Professor Dumbledore sent Professor Snape away, seeing how he was possibly the only professor who actually hated Harry? What would Professor Snape do if he actually found The Boy Who Lived?

This bubbling mass of emotion and tension broke just after the door behind the departing Professor Snape closed. There was a loud series of screams and thumps from the side of the room. Sakura, along with everybody else present, quickly turned to stare at the source.

Somehow, the benches surrounding the Slytherin table had all vanished. This left all of the Slytherin students on the ground in varying degrees of discomfort and embarrassed exposure, depending on how they had fallen. If the timing hadn't been planned that way, it was the most incredible coincidence.

Once the source of the panic was identified, naturally everybody turned to look at Fred and George, who sat in perfectly calm oblivion. They showed the fake picture of perfect innocence which only the truly unrepentant trying to maintain plausible dependability while at the same time claiming credit can show. They were fooling nobody, which was probably their goal.

The cause of the prank now identified, the Gryffindor table wasted no time. Almost as one they turned and laughed at the misfortunes of the Slytherin house as the Slytherin students themselves tried to pick themselves up off the ground. The most notable exception to this jeering were the Weasley twins, although a couple of other Gryffindors stayed silent as well.

The laughing quickly spread to other tables as well. The Ravenclaw table and the Hufflepuff table joined in, the students around the latter having to exceptionally strain to see across the room to the rows upon rows of fallen Slytherins. The other two houses lacked the same esprit de corps in their reaction that the Gryffindor students had, but there were enough people pointing and laughing that it was more the rule than the exception.

The professors had a much different reaction. Professor Sprout had a mixture of shock and annoyance on her face, while Professor Flitwick only had annoyance. Professor Dumbledore, for his part, appeared as unflappable as ever.

The laughter from Professor Lockhart was incongruousness with the other professors, making him stand out even more than his bright purple robes already did.

"Very good, very good. It's nice to see some things never change. It reminds me of back when I was a student. I'm going to have to ask you to stop now, Ravenclaws. I'm a professor now so I can't play favorites, even if I used to be in your house too," Professor Lockhart said loudly, flashing his well polished and brilliant smile at their table. "You... uhh... Penny. Be a dear and undo that."

Confusion reigned while everybody tried to figure out what Professor Lockhart was talking about. He was staring straight at Penelope, the Ravenclaw prefect. It seemed like he was blaming the Ravenclaw house for this latest exploit of the Weasley twins.

Once this became clear, the ruckus from moments earlier redoubled, with the Gryffindor students adding in jeers and taunts at the supposedly troublemaker Ravenclaws and one red-faced Penelope. The Hufflepuff table looked thunderstruck, whereas the majority of the Slytherin students just focused on regaining their footing. Those Slytherin students who had already managed to get to their feet shouted insults at the Gryffindor table, and their jeers were slowly being joined in by several Ravenclaw students. Sakura was tempted to join in the retaliation against the unfair accusations from the Gryffindor table.

This came to a head when Professor Flitwick took to his feet on his chair and said in a voice louder than all of the jeering combined, "That's enough." With the volume he spoke, it might have even been magically enhanced.

It was like somebody had thrown a bucket of ice over everybody. The shouting and jeering immediately stopped.

"This is not the way to greet new students into these hallowed halls," Professor Flitwick said. He waived his wand and benches reappeared on both sides of the Slytherin table. "Please, take your seats."

There was some loud muttering from the Slytherins, and one of them called out, "What? Aren't you going to punish them?"

"Punish who, Mister Derrick?" Professor Flitwick asked.

"Them. Fred and George," the older Slytherin student said, pointing at the Weasley twins.

"Do you have proof they did it?" Professor Flitwick asked.

"You know they did," the boy countered.

"I take it that is a 'no.' I'd love to punish the culprits who did this, but without proof there's nothing I can do," Professor Flitwick said, staring intensely. It was obvious to Sakura that Professor Flitwick did know who did it and would sincerely like to punish them, but that he wouldn't act without concrete evidence.

Fred and George pointedly ignored him.

The Slytherin boy who had called out took a seat, muttering how unfair it was. He muttered loud enough that the whole room could hear, but Professor Flitwick and the others let him get away with it.

After the confrontation was over, the entire atmosphere of the room changed again. All of the professors kept an eagle-eyed watch over the students, especially on two particular students sitting at the Gryffindor table. Under their watchful gaze, the fever-pitch speculation of Harry's absence had quieted considerably, replaced with quiet whispering between people who wanted to speak without drawing undue attention to themselves.

Anthony leaned towards Lisa and Sakura and asked, "Quite the coincidence of timing. You think Harry was in on that prank?"

"It could be, except I have not seen him at all for the entire trip. How would they have coordinated it?" Lisa asked.

"Who knows?" Sakura answered, leaning in as well.

In contrast to the exciting trip as a first-year, time passed by slowly in the Great Hall. It passed by even slower after the excitement of the prank against Slytherin at the start of the waiting. The frown of intense watchfulness the various professors wore just made the situation that much more tense and made Sakura that much more acutely aware of each second ticking by. It was not just boring; it was a nervous boredom, like there was a storm about to break.

Eventually the doors pulled open, which revealed the figure of Professor McGonagall followed by the flock of children comprising the first-year students of 1992.

The entire experience was almost a complete mirror image of her own first-year sorting. A sedate carriage ride instead of the amazing revelation of Hogwarts Castle. A friendly camaraderie with people she knew well instead of getting to know a couple of otherwise strangers she happened to have met on a train. Wary boredom instead of a bout of nerves for the upcoming event. In retrospect, Sakura definitely preferred her experience from the other side of the sorting ceremony.

Everybody turned to stare at Professor McGonagall as she lead the children to the front of the room and to the stool where she would eventually place the Sorting Hat. There was literally nothing better to do. Several of the incoming children were gawking at the candles floating in the air and the apparent lack of a ceiling above. Most likely muggle-born children. Even Sakura took that magic for granted now, despite how impressed she had been when she had first seen it.

Sakura quickly spotted Syaoran. He didn't stand out exceptionally, being about the same height as the younger students despite being some two or three years older than them. Still, with the strength of his magic shining through, it was easy for Sakura to feel which area to look in. From there it was a simple matter to pick out her boyfriend from the crowd. He was still walking next to Luna.

Once everybody had gathered in a cluster at the front of the room, Professor McGonagall pulled out the dingy, pointed Sorting Hat and placed it on the stool. It sat there in quiescence for several seconds before the mouth of the hat near its brim cracked open and it began to sing.

"We welcome students one and all

from London to Dundee,

From Dublin and from places known

to points across the sea.

"Dear Hogwarts greets you and your kind

wherever you are from.

Your only precondition is

to learn and want some fun.

"Hogwarts was started years ago

by four founders renown,

each brought with them unique talents

and tools to teach around.

"For Gryffindor the greatest trait

is bravery all times,

to stand firm in the darkest hour

knowing all will turn out fine.

"Wise Ravenclaw thought you should place

wit highest of all things;

important for the humble man,

essential for great kings.

"For Slytherin, strength, cunning, and

blood purity were best,

and with them all a wizard would

stand out above the rest.

"And finally for Hufflepuff

was loyalty most dear.

With friendship and with true allies

there's nothing you should fear.

"With all these virtues featured here

you may want to know

to which of these fine houses you'd

be best suited to go.

"To this I tell you, 'worry not,'

they made this hat you see.

Just put me on and I'll tell you

the place where you should be."

It was a tribute to how much Sakura's English had improved that she actually understood what the hat was singing this year, even if she didn't fully appreciate it. That didn't stop her from politely joining in the more enthusiastic applause from the collective student body.

The hat then fell silent and returned to its previous state of quiescence, awaiting its first student.

Professor McGonagall stepped forward, now holding a scroll in front of her. She announced for the benefit of the young students, "When I call your name, take a seat on the stool and place the hat upon your head to be sorted. Alden, Andrea!"

A young girl who Sakura could actually see shaking from nervousness made her way forward to the hat. Sakura could sympathize, remembering her own nerves during her sorting. It had been stressful for her, and she had even known what to expect when her turn had come up. To be the first person would be just that much worse.

Andrea sat on the stool and gingerly placed the hat on her head. After a couple of seconds it dutifully announced, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

There was some light cheering from the Hufflepuff table as Andrea took the hat off her head. Her uniform was already forming the yellow and black tie and badger house crest signifying the Hufflepuff house. She dazedly took to her feet and made her way over to the their table.

Professor McGonagall gave no pause, automatically announcing, "Brown, Eric!"

The announced boy confidently made his way up to the just vacated stool to take his turn. Despite this, Eric wasn't actually the focus of attention in the room. Behind him, one of the first-year girls had pulled out a newspaper and was unfolding it. Her straggly blonde hair was unmistakable, if the action of reading a newspaper in the middle of the sorting ceremony hadn't been enough of a clue.

It was Luna.

"What does she think she is doing? Does she have no manners or common sense?" Lisa asked. At a whisper, of course.

Anthony let out of groan of exasperation and whispered back, "No. I think she actually doesn't. You didn't sit with her for half the trip here."

"You know her?" Lisa asked. In the background there was some a smattering of claps as Eric was sorted, although Sakura wasn't even paying attention.

"We met her on the ride here. Her name is Luna, and she's a bit..." Sakura hesitated, trying to find the most appropriate adjective to use, "...odd."

"'Odd' is not the word to use. My aunt Gretchen is 'odd.' Luna's outright crazy. She should be attending St. Mungo, not Hogwarts. I really hope she gets sorted into another house," Anthony said.

"I see," Lisa said, and returned to staring at the girl.

The sorting continued apace. Nobody actually tried to stop Luna from reading her newspaper. It was probably upside down again, although it was too far away for Sakura to be sure. One thing that was certain was that Luna was the center of attention in the room, rather than the hat or the students being sorted one at a time. Most of the student body and many of the professors were openly staring at her.

After what seemed like far too long, Professor McGonagall eventually announced, "Li, Syaoran!"

That caught Sakura's attention. She watched as Syaoran approached the stool with determination, picked up the hat, hesitated only for a moment, and then pulled it over his head.

A second ticked by. Sakura held her breath.

A second ticked by. The already glacial slowness of time seemed to freeze.

A second ticked by. Syaoran fidgeted in his seat.

A second ticked by. Had all of the sortings taken this long?

A second ticked by. Sakura chanced a quick glance around the room, but nobody else seemed to think anything was amiss.

A second ticked by. What was taking so long?

A second ticked by. The hat opened its mouth.

"SLYTHERIN!"

Sakura expelled her breath, disappointment crushing her hopes. Syaoran looked less than pleased as well, his face reflecting Sakura's own feelings as the emblems of Slytherin formed on his uniform. By far he was the most disappointed person so far with his sorting. He gave a defeated look towards Sakura, and then slowly trudged his way over to the lightly cheering Slytherin table.

"Lovegood, Luna!" Professor McGonagall announced, ignoring the drama which had just unfolded before her.

Luna didn't respond.

"I said, 'Lovegood, Luna!'" Professor McGonagall announced again, slightly louder and definitely more annoyed. This caused a titter of laughter across the various tables.

This time Luna did start moving forward, folding her newspaper under her arm and drifting her way towards the stool in front. When she got within an arm's reach of the hat she stopped and then loudly protested, "You want me to put that on? It looks like the perfect breeding ground for wrackspurts."

"I assure you the Sorting Hat is perfectly sanitary. Please put it on, Ms. Lovegood," Professor McGonagall said, frustration barely leaking out in her tightly controlled voice.

Luna didn't say anything more, but picked up the hat by its tip and then used her folded newspaper to beat it a couple of times.

Sakura could almost see the thoughts floating around everybody's head, echoing Anthony's earlier statement. She genuinely thought this might be the first time that every house hoped that the new student would be sorted into somebody else's house.

Luna then sat down on the table and gingerly, carefully, placed the hat on her head just so.

Time ticked by.

More time ticked by.

Even more time ticked by.

Sakura was sure that this was the longest sorting that she had ever experienced. It felt even longer that Syaoran's sorting had been, and given how nervous she had been for Syaoran's sorting that meant something.

Still even more time ticked by.

Yet still even more time ticked by.

"RAVENCLAW!" the hat eventually announced. It could have been her imagination, but Sakura swore she could hear a question mark coloring that declaration.

Nobody in Ravenclaw seemed too happy as Luna's tie took on the colors of her house. This might be the first time that other houses clapped and cheered more than the receiving house did upon getting a new member. There were a tint of laughter as well, but it wasn't loud enough to single out any specific person.

Luna didn't seem to notice as she took the Sorting Hat off of her head. She then proceeded to hit herself on the head a couple of times with her newspaper before making her way over to the Ravenclaw table.

"Great... So we get the crazy witch," Anthony said. "Do you think we can trade?"

Before Sakura could respond, she noticed that Luna wasn't just walking towards the Ravenclaw table, she seemed to be walking directly at her. This appearance quickly proved true as Luna came to a stop just between Sakura and Lisa. She then stepped over the bench and forced herself in between the two girls, which was awkward because not only was there not enough space for her, there wasn't even a place setting there. This had the effect of pushing Sakura into her neighbor, who pushed into his neighbor, who pushed into his neighbor, and so on down the line until an open place setting was found.

Lots of dirty glares were directed to the newly sorted Ravenclaw girl, who seemed oblivious to them all. Instead Luna turned to Lisa and hit her on the head with her newspaper.

"What was that for?" Lisa protested.

"I'm sorry. It seems I was too slow," Luna said. She then unfolded her newspaper and started reading it again. Upside down.

Lisa stared at the young girl in shock and confusion, clearly at a loss for what to say in response.

"I told you so," Anthony said to Lisa, barely masking his voice.

Sakura probably wouldn't have cared half as much if Luna had been reading her newspaper normally, but that it was upside down just intrigued her. She couldn't help but look over Luna's shoulder, trying to discover what had caught the odd girl's attention so much that she continued to read it while the sorting ceremony was still ongoing.

"Sǝlɟ-dɹoɔlɐıɯǝp ɐuʇı-slɐʌǝɹʎ ɐɔʇıʌısʇs ɥɐʌǝ ɔlɐıɯǝp ɔɹǝpıʇ ɟoɹ ʇɥǝ ǝsɔɐdǝ oɟ ʇɥonsɐups oɟ ɯɐupɹɐʞǝ dlɐuʇs ıu ʍɥɐ..."

Sakura's efforts were put to a halt when Luna turned the page. Rather than start over again with a new paragraph, which would most likely be interrupted again given how slowly Sakura was forced to read, she instead turned her attention back to the sorting taking place in the front of the room. She might not care very much about any of the remaining new students, but it was more interesting that reading out upside down letters one at a time.

The sorting continued for another couple of students before she noticed something. Sakura turned to her neighbor, the one who wasn't reading a newspaper, and asked the older boy she didn't really know, "Is it just me or does it seem like everybody doesn't care as much about this sorting as last year?"

The boy next to her answered, "It's to be expected, isn't it? Harry Potter's not being sorted this year. Last year was special because everybody wanted to know where he'd go, but usually the sorting feels like more of a formality than anything. I know I'd skip it if I could."

"That's kind of sad," Sakura said.

"Maybe, but what can you do? If it's not your year then it's not like it'll affect you all that much. Even if it did it's not like we know anything about the firsties yet, except for, you know..." the boy said, gesturing with his head at Sakura's other neighbor

Sakura nodded in understanding. If it hadn't been for Syaoran's being sorted, and in an odd way Luna's being sorted as well, she probably wouldn't have noticed any of the sortings this year at all. In fact, besides those two, she honestly couldn't remember where anybody else had been placed despite it having happened only minutes ago. It was kind of boring.

"You should have brought something to read too," Luna casually remarked to Sakura, catching her by surprise. "Do you want to part of my paper? I've already finished half of it."

"No, thank you," Sakura said. She didn't think she had it in herself to be so rude as to read a newspaper during the ceremony.

The only remaining sorting Sakura took notice of was when one "Weasley, Ginevra" got sorted into Gryffindor, and that had as much to do with her being the last student as it did with the recognized and infamous Weasley name.

Her task done, Professor McGonagall rolled up the scroll and picked up the Sorting Hat. Professor Dumbledore then got to his feet, bringing the room to silence.

"Welcome everybody!" he announced. "Welcome to another new year at Hogwarts. I hope your heads have had a chance to empty out over the summer so we can fill them up with brand new things. I have nothing to say before we begin the banquet, so I hope you'll indulge me. Thank you!"

Professor Dumbledore then sat down. All of the plates in the hall were now covered with food.

Long used to the magical appearance of dishes during special events, Sakura wasn't put off and quickly joined in with everybody else and helped herself. The dinner passed by quickly, as tasty and heavy as she remembered from her past meals at Hogwarts. Everybody seemed to be in good spirits. The mystery of the missing Harry Potter wasn't forgotten as such, but people were more than happy to push it to the side in favor of the delicious feast. Sakura spent her time in equal parts feeding herself, sneaking food to Keroberos, and exchanging longing glances with Syaoran across the room, who exchanged them back just as longingly.

Early in the meal, Sakura noticed Professor McGonagall lean over and whisper something to Professor Dumbledore in the front of the room while pointing to the Gryffindor table. He said something back, but whatever it was it didn't seem to make her very happy as Professor McGonagall subsequently stood up and proceeded to walk out of the room. This might have been predictable given the still missing Harry Potter.

As expected, in the middle of the meal, as Sakura happened to be sneaking Keroberos a large sausage, the various ghosts appeared. Nearly Headless Nick flew down the Gryffindor table, meeting and greeting several of the new students. The Fat Friar did the same for the Hufflepuff table, just as jolly as Nearly Headless Nick was carefree.

The Bloody Baron made an appearance as well, descending directly in front of Syaoran as he was being nudged by one of his neighbors who was simultaneously pointing at Sakura and saying something. She wondered what they were talking about. Syaoran just waved both his neighbor and the ghost off.

Grey Lady did not make an appearance.

Once everybody, even Keroberos, had had their fill and more, plus a bit of dessert just to be on the safe side, Professor Dumbledore took to his feet again. The hall once again fell silent.

"Now that you are all no longer in danger of starving to death, I have just a few start-of-term notices to add before I bid you all a good evening. First, for the new students, you should note that the forest on the grounds is off-limits for all pupils. A couple of older students would do well to remember that as well," Professor Dumbledore said, directing his gaze primarily at the Gryffindor table as he said this.

"Second, the hallways near the greenhouses are currently being re-charmed so that area will be off limits for the first two months of the year. Anybody caught there will be severely punished, and should see Madam Pomfrey about regrowing their hair. Third, Mr. Filch, our caretaker, has asked me to remind you that magic should not be used in the corridors between classes," Professor Dumbledore announced. Mr. Filch, standing in the back corner of the room, grumped a bit at that announcement.

"Fourth, the Quidditch trials will be held on the third week of the term this year. Anybody interested in playing for their house team should contact Madam Hooch. Finally, as you are all aware, Professor Quirrel has moved on and is no longer teaching here. So for this year, we have a new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Gilderoy Lockhart..." Professor Dumbledore announced.

The students, more girls than boys, started clapping and cheering at that announcement. The named professor took to his feet, flashed a brilliant smile to the students, and said before Professor Dumbledore could resume speaking, "Thank you, thank you. It's a pleasure to be here. When Professor Dumbledore begged me to come teach at Hogwarts, I was honored. Of course it was only natural for him to come to somebody as capable as me with my Order of Merlin, my Membership in the Dark Force Defense League, and my five-time winning of 'Witch Weekly's' Most Charming Smile Award. But this isn't about me; it's about what I can do for you. The prestige, the honor, and the skills you can only develop under a world-class wizard like myself. With my knowledge and experience, I'll see to it that each and every one of you will be the best witch or wizard you can be. The world can be a dangerous place, let me tell you. Like the time I faced down the Wagga Wagga Werewolf who was terrorizing that village before I was able to corner the beast and cast a Homorphus charm, forcing it back to human form."

"Exactly right," Professor Dumbledore deftly interjected himself before Professor Lockhart could continue. "We're all grateful that you have decided to join this fine institution. With that said, I'm sure everybody is eager to get to bed and have a fresh start for the fresh school year, but before that, let's sing the school song!"

Several of the teachers' faces took on a distinctively wooden smile at this declaration. Professor Dumbledore didn't seem to notice as he flicked his wand, causing a golden ribbon to emerge, float up in the air, and spell out some lyrics.

"Everyone pick your favorite tune, and off we go!" Professor Dumbledore announced, and then started the singing.

Sakura's English might have improved to the point that she could understand the song the Sorting Hat had sung, but it hadn't improved to the point of understanding the cacophony of noise which followed Professor Dumbledore's lead. In fact she was relatively sure that even native speakers of English would have had a hard time following the complete mix of tempos, melodies, harmonies, and mumblings which comprised the alleged song. Sakura just closed her eyes and tried to shut her ears to the noise all around her, unknowingly mimicking a very similar behavior from Luna right next to her. It finally came to an end with Fred and George, singing arm in arm what sounded like a slow dirge. They continued for some two minutes after the last of the other singers had ended.

"The magic of music," Professor Dumbledore wistfully. "With that, off to bed. Good evening, everybody."

Sakura gave a quick wave to Syaoran, who returned it. Then the sound of the multitude of Hogwarts students simultaneously climbing to their feet resonated around the Great Hall, and order was lost to the room.

* * *

When Richard and Penelope, the two prefects who were leading the Ravenclaw students to Ravenclaw Tower, reached the stairs to climb into the dormitories, as was tradition, Sakura and the other returning students slowed down and let the first-year students take the lead so they might to hear the riddle and its answer. She still found herself closer to the front than the back of the group, and was easily in earshot to hear the knocker ask, "What is the most significant number in Arithmancy."

"Of all the rotten... I'm pants at Arithmancy. What did Professor Vector say last year? I think it's seven..." Richard, the prefect who was leading the group, mused out loud. "A little help here, Penelope?"

"It's not seven. Seven may one of the most powerful numbers but the question was what is the most significant number," Penelope said, coming to the rescue of her fellow prefect. Then, directing herself to the door to Ravenclaw Tower, she answered, "Numbers only derive their meaning in relation to other numbers, so there is no single most significant number in Arithmancy."

"Well reasoned," the knocker said before the door swung open.

Richard then said, "Well, there goes my chance of impressing all you first-years, but let that be a lesson to you. To succeed in Ravenclaw you'll need your wits and a wide breadth of knowledge, but that alone won't be enough. Many a time you'll be stuck somewhere. Maybe doing your homework, or maybe trying to open the door to the dorms at night. Don't be afraid to ask for help, and be willing to help others who are in need of it."

Sakura nodded to herself. She had lost count of the number of times she had been trying to get into the dorm rooms and had been faced with an unanswerable question. She knew she wasn't alone. If the door didn't quickly change away from the topic of Arithmancy, or maybe magic theory if that was what it was currently questioning, she had a sneaking feeling that her first lockout of the year might be the very next day.

After all of the first-year students filed into the Ravenclaw Common Room, Sakura joined with the others in following in afterward. There was some token discussion floating around about the still missing Harry Potter, but it was nothing Sakura really wanted to get involved in. Instead she made her way to her dorm room, which she found to her surprise to be the same as the room she had had the previous year. In fact there was no overt indication that anything had changed from the previous year, excepting the different contents of Sakura's luggage and the sign on the outside of the door now labeling the room as now belonging to second-year students.

Thus it was easy for Sakura and Lisa to join the already unpacking Deborah and Linda and quickly settle in prior to going to bed. It all went very smoothly. Deborah didn't try to glomp onto Keroberos even once, no matter how much it looked like she was tempted to.

* * *

Last Updated: July 18, 2013


	5. 5: Sakura's Second First Day

Chapter 5: Sakura's Second First Day

Sakura's heart raced. Her body was covered in sweat. Fear poured through her veins.

She snapped her eyes open and frantically looked around. She was lying in her bed.

There wasn't anything there.

A nightmare, she quickly concluded. The unnamed terror she felt slowly disappeared at that realization, and her heartbeat settled into a more normal rhythm.

Getting interrupted from a good night's sleep was not a fun thing to have happen. Normally. But this was not a normal day. She was actually kind of happy that her sleep had been cut short. If she hurried down to breakfast, she might have a chance to see Syaoran before classes started. It had been maybe eight hours since she had seen him last and she missed him dearly already.

Well, that wasn't actually true. She didn't really miss him as such. She'd spent far more time than a measly few hours forcibly separated from him in the past. However that didn't stop her from wanting to see him again so soon, and if her forecast was right he would think the same thing she was and they could meet up for a nice long breakfast.

Sakura quietly climbed out of bed, being careful not to disturb her roommates. It was early enough that even Lisa, the morning lark of the four of them, was still fast asleep. Once on her feet, it was an easy task for Sakura to quickly prepare herself with the ease of habit.

It was a tough call as to whether to bring Keroberos with her, but ultimately she decided not to. He was still sleeping, and he wasn't actually officially allowed to eat in the Great Hall, no matter how many times they'd flouted that rule before. Sakura ultimately decided to leave a note behind for him before slipping out of the bedroom and heading to the Ravenclaw common room. As she walked, Sakura giggled to herself, imagining what Keroberos's reaction would be when he woke up and found that she had left without him.

Sakura stifled a yawn as she went. That she was awake didn't mean that she was fully rested.

The quiet hallways weren't awake either, and didn't yet echo with the clatter and noise of recreation and education. Even the portraits were asleep. Despite the silence all around her, though, the vibrations of life were still very present, unlike when she had left for the summer a few months ago. Even without people in sight, there was no doubt that school was now in-session. The building practically hummed with the humanity contained within.

The timing couldn't have been more perfect. Sakura arrived at the Great Hall right as it opened. Nobody else was in sight, but she was content to wait. She took a seat at the Ravenclaw table.

Sakura pulled out the scroll which contained her class schedule. She had found it on her bed when she had arrived there the previous night. A quick comparison with her roommates confirmed that they did in fact have the same schedule as her, which was to be expected. As she re-reviewed it, almost unnoticed by her, a team of house elves brought in several different plates containing traditional breakfast fare.

It looked like the first class of the day would be Transfigurations. That was a nice start for the day, as well as for the school term. Sakura always did like Transfigurations. It was one of her better subjects.

After that was Herbology, which was a fine enough class. Then a break for lunch.

After lunch would be Charms, which was a less than fine enough class. She had had a great deal of trouble with Charms in the past. Despite her extra practice over the summer, and her commensurate increase in confidence performing all of the charms she had learned the previous year, she was still a bit apprehensive. Sakura somehow found Professor Flitwick's class to be so much less intuitive than classes like Professor Snape's. Still, it might be a good opportunity to bring up her question about her plans for her skates.

Ending the day was Defense Against the Dark Arts.

All in all it would be quite the busy schedule for her first day back in academics.

She put the scroll back into her pocket for later consultation and instead focused on getting something to eat. The elves had been as quiet and efficient as usual. Sakura had a veritable banquet to choose from in front of her. She quickly settled on some light toast and jam.

As she helped herself, some voices from across the room caught her attention. They were too distant to hear properly, but she would recognize the voice anywhere. It proved that her forecast had been correct. Entering the room was Syaoran, who was leading two other boys. Their green and silver ties made it easy to tell that they were in the same house as Syaoran.

They stopped briefly at the door and had a minor discussion before Syaoran walked determinedly towards Sakura. The other two followed after a moment of hesitation. Syaoran quickly made his way over to Sakura and sat down, joined in short order by the two other boys. It made for an unusual sight, the Ravenclaw table having more Slytherin students sitting at it than Ravenclaw students.

"Morning. These are two of my roommates in Slytherin. This is Giles," Syaoran said, introducing a boy with black hair which was sleeked back, "and this is is Roger," who was a slightly taller boy with mussed up silvery-gray hair.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Sakura," Sakura said, briefly standing up. The two boys exchanged hellos with her as well.

"So, how was your night?" Syaoran asked as he stepped over the bench and took a seat next to Sakura.

"Pretty bad, actually," Sakura said, causing Syaoran to briefly look at her. She explained, "I had a bad dream."

"You did? What was it?" Syaoran asked. Across from him and Sakura, the two Slytherin boys were helping themselves to the plates arranged before them.

Sakura tried to think back to when she had woken up. It had all seemed so clear back then. No, it hadn't seemed clear at all then, but it had been better than trying to dredge up the memory of a memory of a memory. She said, "I just remember something big and green, and then dying. It was scary."

"Dying? Then how come you're still alive? Everybody knows if you die in a dream then you die in real life too," Roger said, his meal temporarily forgotten.

Giles took that as a cue and, slapped the back of Roger's head. He derided, "Idiot. That's not true at all."

"Yes it is, you moron," Roger said back, shoving the shorter boy in retaliation.

"If that's the case then how do they know the person who died died in their dream, genius?" Giles retorted.

Syaoran ignored the antics of his roommates and asked Sakura in a low voice, "Do you think it might be a premonition? Like that thing with Yue?"

"I hadn't really thought about it. Maybe it could be," Sakura said. It was hard to say. She hadn't had many premonitions so didn't really have very much to compare the nightmare against.

"You mean you had a prophesy? Seriously?" Giles asked, the egg on his fork forgotten at the prospect of hearing about a prophesy.

"How's it go?" Roger asked, interested as well but not to the point of forgetting about his meal. He took a big bite out of the sausage he had skewered on his fork.

"It was a dream. I just remember bits and pieces. Just a flash of something green, and then dying," Sakura said, tense.

Syaoran reached over and gave her a comforting hug. He said, "So you only remember green and dying? Even if it was a vision of the future, which it might not be, all that means is that you should avoid green things."

"Like the Slytherin Dungeon," Roger said.

"And the forest," Giles helpfully added.

"And the Quidditch field," Roger agreed.

"And salads," Giles furthered.

"And... well... us," Roger supplemented, holding up his tie a bit and flicking it around.

"Oww," Giles protested.

"Oww," Roger agreed.

"Ignore those idiots," Syaoran said, ignoring how both were now leaning down to rub their shins, "Nothing bad will happen to you while I'm around, even if I am wearing green. I promise."

"Thanks," Sakura said.

The four of them talked a bit longer about whatever subject happened to come up. Apparently the first-year Slytherins began the school year with their Flying class, much to the three boys' excitement. All of the first-year Slytherins were abuzz due to that particular bit of fortune, and Giles had had some trouble sleeping the night before.

As they talked, more and more students filtered into the Great Hall. There were definitely more people than usual, even considering how the term had just started so the first-year students hadn't started skipping meals like their older classmates yet. Given the number of glances over at the Gryffindor table, it very much could have been the question of whether or not Harry had ever showed up at school that had dragged the students out of bed and to breakfast.

In fact he had. Sakura wasn't sure exactly when or how Harry had arrived, but The Boy Who Disappeared had been found and was now sitting at the Gryffindor table, subject to the surreptitious and not so surreptitious stares from the other tables. Beside him were his ever-present companion, Ron, and his usually-present companion, Hermione. Seeing how both he and Ron had missed the feast the previous night, their early presence in the dining hall made perfect sense.

By this point the Ravenclaw table no longer looked like it had been annexed by Slytherin. Several of Sakura's housemates had arrived to reinforce the Ravenclaw numbers. None of her roommates, though. It was strange. Usually Lisa was a bit earlier than this.

As if summoned by thought of her, Lisa entered the room. She quickly made her way down the wide aisle in the middle of the large room and took a seat next to Sakura. There was no sign of either of her other two roommates. Not even the question of Harry Potter's absence could pique their curiosity enough to overcome either Linda's or Debora's strong night owl tendencies.

"Good morning, Sakura. Good morning, Syaoran. Your name was Syaoran, correct?" Lisa greeted the pair of them.

"Oooo," Giles teased, "you have a harem in Ravenclaw? No wonder you wanted to sit here."

Roger was right behind his roommate, in a falsetto voice saying, "My darling Syaoran. How I've waited so long to see you again." He then made several exaggerated kissing sounds.

"Prat," Syaoran said directly to the pair. He then turned to the two girls at the table and asked in a loud voice while pointing at the two Slytherins with his thumb, "I really hope that these two aren't what I should expect around here."

"If you do not like them, then why are they here?" Lisa asked.

"They're my roommates. They've been following me around ever since last night," Syaoran said, rolling his eyes. He then did a double-take and outright turned his head up to stare towards the ceiling.

A single owl flies quietly, stealth being the best way for them to catch their prey when hunting. However, with the dozens, if not hundreds, of owls flying together overhead, much of that stealth was lost. Combined with the non-aerodynamic letters and packages they all carried, the sound of the morning mail delivery was both very distinctive and rather loud.

Sakura bore no illusions about the chances of her getting anything. Everybody she would correspond with or receive a package from was overseas, and thus the previous year she had only ever received or sent things via Kaho. She had never used the more fantastical owls above.

She still looked up by reflex, despite having seen the same sight countless times already. The avian couriers were still streaming in from above. The seemingly hundreds of them filled the air, blocking sight of the sky on the magical ceiling above. It still made for quite the sight, no matter how frequently she had seen it before. They scattered, each owl going to the person its parcel was destined for.

As she expected, none of them aimed towards her. This was in stark contrast to Lisa, who had a large box delivered with a note tied to the top. Sakura wasn't even quite sure how the owl managed to carry such a large delivery, which was several times larger than it was. Lisa relieved the owl of the burden and placed the package on the bench beside her, probably to open later once she was back in the dormitory and in a more private and convenient setting.

"Seriously? You mean they really do use owls to deliver things? I thought you were joking," Syaoran said.

"Of course we use owls. How else would you deliver things?" Roger asked. An owl delivered a letter to him as well, which he picked up and put in his pocket.

"I assumed with a postal service, and people delivering the letters or something," Syaoran said.

"People? You mean they send people all across the countryside to hand deliver thing in the colonies? That sounds crazy. How large a staff do you have for that?" Giles asked, unknowingly echoing the same sentiment that Gloria had expressed over the summer.

"That actually reminds me. How does the mail work over here? My family expects me to send them letters on how things are going," Syaoran asked.

"Last year whenever I wanted to send stuff things to you or back to Japan I always gave them to Professor Mizuki and she would have Eriol send them out using the regular mail," Sakura explained. She hadn't asked Kaho if that would continue this year, but she assumed the same process would be in effect.

"That seems like a lot of effort. Why not just send it with an owl, or maybe the floo network?" Giles asked.

"- STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY EXPELLED YOU -" a booming voice screamed out in a voice louder than any normal woman could possibly shout. It interrupted Sakura's answer to Giles question.

Immediately the noise got the attention of everybody in the room, who whipped around towards the source of the disturbance. In the center of it all was one Ron Weasley, trying his best to slouch beneath a table to hide himself. His messy red hair would have been unmistakable, even if he wasn't sitting right next to the famous Harry Potter.

"What's that?" Sakura loudly asked Lisa, uncertain if she could be heard.

Lisa said something back, but Sakura couldn't hear very much over the shouting, only making out the word "howler" said in response.

"- THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO -" the voice continued on. By this point everybody was staring at the young Weasley being magically howled at. A fierce blush was barely visible on the little bit of forehead still in sight above the table.

"I'm going to go ahead to class," Sakura tried to tell the others at the table, and stood up. The noise was definitely getting to her. Not half as bad as the sound The Song had made last year in that confrontation in the greenhouse, but it still left her ears ringing and was giving her a headache. Transfigurations was one of her more favorite classes, anyway.

Whether or not anybody heard her, Sakura had no idea, but they did see her. Syaoran got to his feet as well, as did Roger and Giles. Lisa stayed put. She had just arrived, after all, so would probably want to get something to eat, even if that meant she had to suffer through the cacophony. Sakura felt a bit bad for her.

"- FATHER'S FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT -" the voice continued on, giving no indication of stopping, as Sakura and Syaoran left the room. Behind them, the students around the Slytherin table, most prominently one young boy with sleek white-blond hair, were standing on their feet and pointing and laughing at Ron.

* * *

Sakura only had herself to blame.

Transfigurations class wasn't nearly as interesting as she was hoping it would be.

Ultimately the class itself was fine, but that was an adjective which could equally apply to the type of toothpaste she used. It was acceptable, but nothing really that great. She had expected great. She had expected fun, interesting, exciting, new. What she got was just ordinary.

Last time she had come back from an absence from the school, over the winter holiday, Professor McGonagall had introduced the class to a fundamentally new idea: transfiguring living animals. It still made Sakura a bit nervous to treat other living things like that, but there was no long-term harm done that she could tell. She had expected after this break, especially given its length, there would be another fundamentally new concept she could really get into and learn about.

Instead Professor McGonagall had spent the class lecturing about the same concepts they had learned already. Sakura figured it could have been due to the long break over the summer. If the others hadn't practiced like she had, and she still didn't understand why they couldn't, then it could just take time to remember what they had previously worked on. Sakura hoped that was the case and they would move on to something new soon.

As usual, the latter part of the class was spent practicing a practical applications of transfigurations. Professor McGonagall instructed everybody to change their beetles into buttons, and vice versa. While they hadn't done that specific transfiguration the previous year, it was basically the same idea as every other transfiguration they had spent the second half of the previous term learning about. It was nothing new. In fact it was substantially easier than the final exam the previous term, when she had been instructed to transfigure a mouse into a snuffbox.

After Transfiguration class was Herbology, which meant the Ravenclaw class had to make their way to the greenhouses. Somewhat surprisingly, Professor Sprout stood waiting for them outside of Greenhouse Three. That was a bit of a difference as compared to the last term, where they had spent all of their Herbology classes in Greenhouse One.

Sakura gave a questioning look to both Anthony and Lisa, both of whom returned it. It seemed that somebody had decided that the Greenhouse Three was in need of additional security since their last unfortunate romp in the building. The door now sported a new large lock.

Professor Sprout said nothing about that, only warning, "Watch your step inside. There are many dangerous plants in here, so stay on the path don't go touching anything now." She then led the students into the greenhouse.

The greenhouse had been cleaned up considerably from when Sakura had last seen it. The footpath below had been repaired, with only the faint hints of where it had been replaced still visible to those who looked carefully. The smaller plants no longer looked like something had lightly sprayed defoliant on them, and the trees had regrown their branches to the point that it was hard to tell they had ever been broken.

Even without the warning Sakura still would have been on guard in the greenhouse. The conversation from the morning came back to her, and all of the green foliage surrounding her put her on edge. She tried her best to suppress her fear as being foolish. What could possibly happen to her while in the middle of class surrounded by a bunch of other students with a professor watching over them?

Sakura didn't want a repeat of Transfiguration class when she let her mind wander and forced herself to pay attention as Professor Sprout announced, "Today we'll be re-potting some of our mandrakes. Can anybody tell me what the properties of a mandrake are?"

The entire Ravenclaw class, including Sakura, raised their hands. The door to Ravenclaw Tower had fixated on magical plants for a prolonged period of time late last term, and as a result she knew more about the plant and its properties than she thought she would ever need.

"All of you?" Professor Sprout asked in surprise. "I should have known with you Ravenclaws. Linda, why don't you tell us."

The slightly dumpy girl recited, "A mandrake has multiple uses. Its primary use is as the basis for several poison antidotes. It can also be used to reverse a transfiguration. Less frequently, when concentrated it is can be used in some sleeping potions, as well as in some love potions."

"Very good. Five points to Ravenclaw," Professor Sprout said. "However, mandrake is also quite dangerous. Can anybody else tell me why?"

All the hands raised up again. Professor Sprout called on Su this time, who said, "The cries of a mandrake are extremely dangerous, and can kill an unprotected person when they have reached maturity."

"Very good as well. Another five points for Ravenclaw. These mandrakes are still young so they won't kill you if you hear them, but they'll still knock you out for a few hours if you don't wear protection. Everybody grab a pair of earmuffs and I'll show you how to do it," Professor Sprout said.

Everybody collected a pair of earmuffs. Sakura managed to grab an adorable pair of fluffy bright pink ones. They weren't quite the same color as the Key, but they were definitely reminiscent. She put them on and was surprised to find that they muffled all sound despite the imperfect seal they made around her ears. Magic, she concluded. Too bad she hadn't had them earlier in the morning during breakfast.

Professor Sprout reached over and pulled on the stem of a plant in a pot, pulling out the small mandrake plant. It had mottled skin and looked very much like a pale green human baby, matching what "One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi" had described. It was clearly upset, as it looked like it was crying loudly while Professor Sprout placed it in a larger pot. She then buried it with compost until only the leaves were visible above the soil.

The magical earmuffs ensured that Sakura heard nothing.

Safely re-potted, Professor Sprout prompted all of the students to take off their earmuffs, which they did. She gave some last minute instruction, and then let them all commence to their own efforts of re-potting their plants.

Sakura had a bit of trouble when she first started the re-potting. When she pulled out her first plant, she waved a finger in front of the crying mandrake, which reached over to grab at the finger. She kept having fun playing with the baby plant. Shortly afterward, it had stopped crying and started smiling at her. Professor Sprout's hand waving in front of her brought her back to task, though, and Sakura placed the plant into a large container and filled it with compost as she had been shown. She kept a more professional distance and detachment for the remainder of her plants as she migrated them to their new, larger containers.

At the end of class, Professor Sprout complemented Sakura on how well she handled the mandrake plants, but also warned her that she shouldn't empathize with them too much as they would need to be harvested at some point. Being too emotionally attached would make that job much harder. Sakura promised to be careful, although she wasn't sure how well she would be able to follow that advice.

Given the amount of dirt and grime that the second-year Ravenclaw students were now covered in due to their work in the greenhouse, they were all thankful to have a chance to clean up a bit before heading to lunch. The time was such that they were still the first ones to arrive at the Great Hall, though, and had first shot at the lunch spread the house elves had laid out in preparation for the students' arrival.

Sakura, Lisa, and Anthony were deeply embroiled in conversation as they took their seats in the middle of the Ravenclaw table about the oddities of the house points observed so far.

"We have what, 16 points so far? That's the 6 from Professor McGonagall plus the 10 from Professor Sprout. What's going on? The winning score last year was 482. At the current rate, we'll have almost a tenth of that by the time the day's over, and that's just us second-years," Anthony observed as he sat.

Both he and Lisa disregarded the habitual "itadakimasu" Sakura said in preparation for every one of her meals.

"Yes, that is quite odd, but when I see the other houses it seems like everybody has about the same score. I wonder why the professors are giving out more points now," Lisa said.

"Maybe they're planning something big, but I don't see how giving out lots of points could be part of some big plan," Sakura speculated.

"Flying is so awesome," the unmistakable voice of Syaoran enthused from behind Sakura.

"Syaoran-kun," Sakura said in excitement, turning to see her boyfriend. He was alone this time, forgoing his Slytherin classmates to join her at the Ravenclaw table.

Beside her, Anthony's face took on a scowl of annoyance. Syaoran didn't look too pleased at seeing Anthony either. Apparently the bad blood from the train ride hadn't blown over yet, or something.

"I guess it might be exciting if you haven't seen it before," Anthony said dismissively.

"You were pretty excited about it too, last year," Sakura said.

"Actually I just remembered I had promised to have lunch with Terry and Michael. I'll catch up with you later. Enjoy your lunch with your boyfriend," Anthony said, practically spitting out the word. He got to his feet and, still with a scowl, walked away.

Sakura shot a confused look to Lisa, who sent an equally confused look back. That was definitely strange, but at least it made room for Syaoran, who easily slid next to Sakura in the space Anthony had just left.

"Good riddance. I can't say I like that guy," Syaoran said, easily taking the just vacated seat next to Sakura.

The rest of lunch passed by quickly. Syaoran regaled them with tales of his first day on a broom. He had been hesitant at first, warned of what had happened to Sakura in the past, but quickly took his place in the sky with the others. He was far from the most adapt flier, but likewise he was far from the least capable students who had spent most of the entire class trying to get their brooms to lift off the ground.

In what seemed like far too short a time, lunch was over. Sakura barely had time to arrange for a place to meet Syaoran for homework prior to dinner. She was then forced to part Syaoran's company once again.

It was with a mixture of dread and hope that Sakura walked with Lisa and the other second-year Ravenclaw students to the Charms classrooms. Dread because she had never really liked Charms class. She had never quite figured out what Professor Flitwick was trying to teach, and had never quite managed to get her wand to act the way that it was supposed to when casting the various spells he was teaching. Hope because she had practiced a great deal over the summer and now felt more proficient than ever before. She was tentatively eager to show off exactly how much she had developed since the previous term.

The Charms classroom was set up a bit differently than normal. All of the furniture had been moved to the sides of the room. After the standard welcome back introduction to the class, Professor Flitwick started explaining how to cast the Incendio charm.

"It's very much like the Lumos charm, only instead of making a full circle you flick the wand up and down again like so. As you do so you say 'Incendio' like this. Incendio," Professor Flitwick said, flicking his wand and lighting a small piece of wood hovering in the air on fire. He then quickly extinguished it.

"Now because this spell can be so dangerous, we'll be practicing it one at a time. Refrain from practicing except when it is your turn, and only aim for the target hovering in the air here. Be sure to curb your enthusiasm. I don't want you to set anything on fire in here except for this piece of wood," Professor Flitwick said. Sakura couldn't help but feel that he was talking directly at her, even though he didn't so much as glance at her while giving that warning. "Now who wants to be first? Ah, Anthony, very good, very good. Everybody else form a queue behind him there."

Sakura found her place in the middle of the line which formed. That suited her just fine. She definitely didn't want to be in the front, and she certainly didn't want to be in the back either.

"Okay, now whenever you are ready, Anthony," Professor Flitwick prompted.

Anthony flicked his wand in the way Professor Flitwick instructed, the end of the wand forming what looked vaguely like a simplistic drawing of a flame in the air, and said, "Incendio." The trail of magic emitted by Anthony's wand took the shape of a real fire as it surged forward, hitting the floating piece of wood and igniting it.

"Very good, Anthony. First try. Ten points for Ravenclaw," Professor Flitwick said, extinguishing the fire again. "Next."

Anthony's success was entirely predictable. He was the undisputed best caster of charms in the second-year Ravenclaw class. That didn't stop him from having a look of triumph on his face as he turned and walked to the end of the line. Behind him, Terry lined up with a decidedly less confident posture than Anthony had had earlier.

"Incendio," Terry said, trying to mimic Anthony's success. It didn't happen. The movement was similar to what Anthony and Professor Flitwick had done earlier, but the results spoke for themselves. The magic being evoked from the wand was held at cross purposes and muddled up, failing to manifest in the flame that had already been demonstrated twice.

"Nice try, Terry, but you need to smooth out the motion more. Remember, it's just like a Lumos charm. It's all in the wrist. Now try again," Professor Flitwick instructed.

"Incendio," Terry tried again, flicking the wand in the same flame-like pattern again. While his actions appeared the same to Sakura, the results were far different. This time all of the magic braided together as it projected forward before hitting the charred wood, once again setting it on fire.

The procession continued after that one student at a time. Next was Michael who took four tries to finally get it. Then Deborah, who somehow managed it on her first try. She looked as surprised as everybody else did. Then Linda, Su, Lisa, until it was finally Sakura's turn.

"Incendio," Sakura said, flicking her wand in the same way that she had seen all of the previous students doing. Immediately she saw it was no good. The magic emitted from the wand was all tangled up and would result in nothing meaningful being done.

"Try again. It needs to be sharper and faster," Professor Flitwick said, demonstrating without actually saying the charm.

"Incendio," Sakura tried again, trying to move the wand sharper and faster. Once again no effect.

"No, that's not right. It's just like a Lumos charm, only with a bit of a different twist. Try it again," Professor Flitwick instructed.

Sakura decided to try to do it like a Lumos charm, despite the fact that what he was doing was nothing like that. She flicked her wand and said, "Incendio."

There was some effect, but nothing at all like what the previous students or Professor Flitwick had demonstrated before. The magic from her wand had entangled themselves in an interesting way, but they dissipated without any effect that she could see.

"I said like a Lumos charm. Try it again," Professor Flitwick said.

"Hoe," Sakura lamented to herself, but tried it again. And again. And again. While she could get her wand to do various interesting things, none of them seemed to do anything productive. She could feel Padma getting impatient behind her, even if she hadn't turned to see.

"Wait, Sakura. You're doing it all wrong. Let's try something else. Can you cast a Lumos charm for me?" Professor Flitwick asked.

"Okay," Sakura said. She had confidence that she could do this. She had practiced it over the summer until she could do it every time. She twirled the wand in and said, "Lumos."

As expected, the magic from the wand pulled outward from the tip and collected in front of her, forming a bright blob of magic glowing in lovely pink light. Sakura lowered her wand again, leaving the light beacon floating in mid air.

"I said a Lumos charm. What're you doing?" Professor Flitwick asked, the hint of impatience and frustration in his voice turning into a more overt anger.

"I cast a Lumos charm, like you said," Sakura answered.

"A Lumos charm doesn't do that. It's supposed to make your wand glow, not do... whatever it is that is," Professor Flitwick disagreed, pointing at the floating glowing orb.

"The book says it's supposed to create a magical light, doesn't it? I even said Lumos? Didn't you hear me?" Sakura protested. It had taken a while for her to figure out the best way to cast the spell, and she didn't like having her efforts called into question.

"I don't know what kind of prank you think you're pulling, but I don't have time to deal with this right now. You've wasted enough class time already. Minus five points for Ravenclaw, and you have detention with me after classes today," Professor Flitwick said, clearly frustrated. "Take a seat and think about what you've done. Next."

Sakura turned and walked to the side of the classroom to take a seat. She didn't bother looking behind her, although that didn't stop her from imagining the disapproving looks her classmates were giving her.

Her foul mood at what she considered to be an unfair scolding of her properly cast charm remained as they left Charms class to go to the Defense Against the Dark Arts room. Nobody seemed inclined to help break her of that cloud; not because they were still angry at her for losing points, even though she was sure some were, but rather because they were instead too filled with anticipation of their next class. Everybody was abuzz at the prospect of having a genuine celebrity as a professor, let alone a celebrity of Professor Lockhart's caliber and reputation. It was almost as if Professor Dumbledore was teaching them, only even more exciting as Professor Lockhart was new to the student body. He had a much better smile as well.

Even Lisa and Anthony didn't seem to notice or care about Sakura's dour mood, chatting extensively about Professor Lockhart, his latest exploits, and the more exciting portions of his books. Anybody who hadn't already read through all of his books did nothing to draw attention to that fact. In addition to Anthony and Lisa's chatter, Su, Deborah, and Padma had added the topics of whether Professor Lockhart was single, and if so, what were the best ways to capture the heart of an older man.

Sakura personally didn't see what the big deal everybody was making of Professor Lockhart. Granted she wasn't nearly as negative towards him as Syaoran had been after their meeting during the summer, but she also wasn't too interested in him or the exploits he had achieved against creatures she didn't know in places she had never heard about. Regardrless she was thankful for him, in an indirect way, as he was incidentally responsible for her not receiving any evil eyes directed towards her during the trip from Charms class.

Her first reaction to the Defense Against the Dark Arts room was that Professor Lockhart was apparently a much messier person than Professor Quirrel had been. It looked like a rhinoceros had run rampant through the room. A flying rhinoceros, given the number of portraits and paintings which were on the ground. They were hard to make out against the shredded books, the puddles of unidentified liquid, and the shattered glass littered all over the room. In the middle of the maelstrom was a giant iron chandelier, clearly having fallen from the chain still hanging above it. Even the desk Professor Lockhart stood in front of was not exempt from this chaos. It too was covered with scraps of paper and liquid, and a large object covered with some cloth stood in the center of it.

She ended up taking a seat towards the back of the classroom. The seats closer to the professor already had quickly been filled by her eager classmates before she had even entered the room. It was something of a tricky proposition. The desks in the back were covered with shattered glass. Sakura was forced to pull out her wand and cast a quick Ventus charm to clear everything away before the desk was safe to sit at.

"As you all know, I'm Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of the Merlin, Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five-time winner of 'Witch Weekly's' Most-Charming Smile Award, but I'm not here to talk about that. After all I didn't cure the Wagga Wagga Werewolf by smiling at him," Professor Lockhart said, gracing everybody with his award-winning smile. It looked a bit forced for some reason.

Professor Lockhart paused here, filling the room with silence for several seconds, waiting for something which didn't happen. It continued until it got to the point of being markedly uncomfortable, and then for several seconds longer.

Undeterred by the lack of response, Professor Lockhart continued, "I see you've all bought copies of all my books. Excellent. We're going to start with a little quiz. Nothing to worry about. Just a little something to see what we're starting with."

Professor Lockhart handed out test papers to all of the students and returned to the front of the room. He then announced, "You have half an hour."

There was no further prompting, so Sakura took that as a sign to start. She looked down at her paper, which caused her face to fall. It was filled with questions about Professor Lockhart.

What was his favorite color?

When was his birthday?

What his greatest accomplishment was to date?

Sakura didn't see what they had to do with Defense Against the Dark Arts. A couple of them were tangentially related, such as how had he scared off the Bandon Banshee, but most seemed completely superfluous, such as what his secret ambition was. Despite this, like a dutiful Ravenclaw student, Sakura filled out the couple of answers she knew from her brief skim through some of his books. She used her remaining time to take some wild guesses on the ones she didn't know, each guess more wild than the previous ones.

Half an hour later, Professor Lockhart collected the papers and started reviewing them. He complemented Terry on his memory of Professor Lockhart's favorite color, Su on her correct identification of what world leader he saved in 1985, and Linda on correctly naming his greatest ambition. Each earned five points.

It took him some time before he noticed Lisa's raised hand. He was halfway through Anthony's test before he finally looked up to see her patiently waiting. He asked, "Lana, you have a question?"

Lisa looked back and forth around her, before asking, "Do you mean me, sir? My name is Lisa."

"Of course it is. What's your question," Professor Lockhart smoothly corrected himself.

"Are we going to be doing any practical work in this class?" Lisa asked.

"I'm glad you asked. I was originally planning on having a practical demonstration, but I'm afraid I overestimated the capabilities of you students. I tried it earlier with the Gryffindor class, and you can see the results all around you. That chandelier used to be on the ceiling, and we'll need to replace the windows," Professor Lockhart said, bringing explanation to the mystery of the mess all around them. "I've since thought it better to not risk it again. I don't blame you for your inadequate abilities. A poor student is a result of poor instruction. Rest assured now that I'm here, I'll do my utmost to overcome the shortcomings of my predecessors."

The covered object on the desk behind Professor Lockhart suddenly took on a more ominous meaning. Sakura had heard enough of Professor Lockhart's reputation to know that he was a high caliber wizard, so any practical demonstration he had planned was certainly big. The fact that even under professorial supervision it had so overwhelmed Gryffindor, who were known as one of the stronger and more adventurous houses, to the point of creating the mess all around them only made it scarier.

A metallic bang behind Professor Lockhart drew everybody's attention. The professor himself spun to face the sound, turning towards the large covered object on his desk. The corner of the cover had been caught on something. From that small glimpse, it was apparent that the covered object was a large cage of some sort. Professor Lockhart quickly freed the cover and plunged whatever was in the cage into total darkness.

"And that is what caused so much terror to the Gryffindor students earlier. I'll not be showing it to you until I'm sure you can handle it," Professor Lockhart warned them all.

Sakura decided that if Professor Lockhart thought it best to not have a practical section to the class then she was more than willing to go along with his judgment.

The rest of the class was spent talking about the quiz Professor Lockhart had had them fill out earlier. He waxed poetic about his various exploits around the world. He had gotten such a head of steam going that by the time he got to Sakura's quiz, which she was sure she got mostly wrong, he took it in stride and only used it as an excuse to explain how in France he had revolutionized the way they viewed love potions.

Class came to an end with him halfway through a story of the work he had done for "the queen" in 1988. He promised to continue the story next time as Sakura and the rest of the students filed out of the room.

On the way out of the classroom, Lisa promised Sakura to meet up with Syaoran and let him know that she had received detention and wouldn't be able to meet up with him until dinner. Sakura then made her way to the Charms classroom to serve her detention with her house head. She still thought it was unfair.

"Welcome back, Sakura. Have you had a chance to think about what you've done wrong?" Professor Flitwick asked Sakura as she came in the room.

"I don't think I did anything wrong," Sakura protested.

"I'm very disappointed in you. I'd expect this kind of behavior from a student in Gryffindor, not somebody from my own house," Professor Flitwick said.

"But I was doing what you told me to," Sakura protested.

"I asked you to cast a Lumos charm," Professor Flitwick said.

"But I did cast a Lumos charm," Sakura insisted.

"I don't know what they teach you out East, but that was not a Lumos charm," Professor Flitwick said. The amount of scolding in his voice had diminished somewhat.

"I was following the instructions in the Standard Book of Spells, and a light appeared like it said it would. That's what's supposed to happen, isn't it?" Sakura asked.

"No. Well, yes, but a Lumos charm is supposed to make the end of your wand light up. Like this. Lumos." Professor Flitwick demonstrated with his wand, causing the tip to start to glow brightly. "Just like we did last year. It's not supposed to be... whatever it was you did."

"If it lights up the area around you then that's all that matters, isn't it?" Sakura asked. As far as she was concerned, if something worked then it worked.

"It's going against tradition," Professor Flitwick tried to explain. "Anyway I can tell that you need some remedial work, but I don't think you were trying to act up. I'll give five points back to Ravenclaw for the point deduction earlier, and we'll spend the detention practicing some of your first-year charms. Let's see if we can't break some of those bad habits you picked up over the summer."

Sakura still didn't see the point. If her charms worked properly, and they did, then why was tradition so paramount as to require remedial work? She didn't voice her consternation, though, not wanting to get into any more trouble than she already was in.

They spent the period of detention practicing the various charms over, and over, and over. Most of the time was spent practicing the Lumos charm, but they did a couple others like the Wingardium Leviosa charm. She really didn't like how it felt, both the close attention from Professor Flitwick as well as the way the magic in the wand kept squirming around. It just didn't feel right. She also didn't like the lack of results. She felt like she was back in her first-year Charms class all over again, struggling to get the charms to come out correctly.

They finished right when dinner was to begin. The circumstances weren't great, but before she left, Sakura decided to seize the opportunity she had to speak with Professor Flitwick and asked, "Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, but I had one another question."

"Yes?" Professor Flitwick answered.

"I was thinking. There are flying brooms, right? How do they work?" Sakura asked. "If I wanted to make something else fly like that, how could I do that?"

Professor Flitwick shook his head, then said, "That's... a bit ambitious. Enchantment's a pretty complicated field of magic. We don't start teaching it until sixth-year, and you'll need the appropriate O.W.L.s."

"But if I wanted to find out more? Could you help me?" Sakura persisted.

Professor Flitwick looked pained, and carefully said, "I'm glad to see you're so enthusiastic, but it'd be more productive to spend your time improving your charms first. If you can't handle the basics, there's no way you'll succeed at the more advanced magics."

"I see. Thank you, Professor Flitwick," Sakura said.

She could see that she wouldn't be able to get anywhere with Professor Flitwick. In his eyes, she was just the strange Eastern child who couldn't even cast a basic Lumos charm properly. If she wanted to get help, she would need to ask elsewhere. Possibly Professor Snape or Professor McGonagall might be more receptive, even if their subjects seemed much less related to making her skates fly. Gray Lady might be able to help as well, especially as Sakura now had a thread of something to go off of in the library. Professor Flitwick had said the word "enchantment." It wasn't much, but it was a start.

By the time Sakura arrived in the Great Hall, dinner was already half over. She sneaked into the room without drawing too much attention. Dinner wasn't as big an event as the start-of-term banquet, so a couple of people coming and going wasn't unheard of, even on the first day of classes.

Sakura quickly found where her friends were sitting at the Ravenclaw table. She took a seat next to Syaoran, which he had obviously saved for her. Across him sat Lisa and Anthony. Sakura had half expected that that odd girl from the train, Luna, would have been there in some fashion as well, but she was nowhere in sight.

As she took her seat, she couldn't help but notice the tension at the table. Syaoran and Anthony were glaring at each other without saying anything, and both of them plus Lisa were silent.

"Hello, Sakura. You are quite late today. What happened in detention?" Lisa asked excessively casually. Even if she didn't know what was going on, Sakura could feel what Lisa was doing: trying to break the mood of the table.

Sakura was happy to go along and answered, "We spent the whole time practicing charms. Professor Flitwick said I needed some remedial work. He told me I should practice more, too, and maybe ask one of the older students for help or something."

"Why bother. Charms class is dumb," Syaoran said remarked.

"It's only because you're no good at it," Anthony accused, defending his favorite class.

"No, it's because it's stupid," Syaoran accused back. "Professor Flitwick had us doing these wind blowing charms. They're weak and useless, and when I tried to show him how we did it back home he couldn't handle it."

"Of course," Anthony said, dismissively. Then to Sakura in a more moderate tone he said, "If you ever want any help with your charms, let me know. I'd be happy to help you out."

"Thanks," Sakura answered. She wondered what was going on between Syaoran and Anthony. Between lunch earlier and the current hostility there was clearly some disagreement of some sort going on. She tried to defuse the situation by changing the subject and saying, "The good news is that Professor Flitwick gave back the five points he took earlier."

"That does sound like good news," Lisa agreed.

"Sorry I couldn't meet up with you like we planned, Syaoran-kun," Sakura said.

"That's alright. You couldn't do much about it. I blame Professor Flitwick and his uselessness," Syaoran said. Anthony continued to growl from across the table. "Anyway, it wasn't a total waste. I ended up talking to Professor Mizuki and guess what I found out."

The last was said in a worried tone, causing Sakura to worry in return. It couldn't have been that bad, though, or Syaoran would have told her right away, right? With only a little concern in her voice she asked, "What?"

"Eriol's gone missing," Syaoran said quietly.

"What?" Sakura exclaimed much louder, drawing the attention of several of their neighbors.

"Who's Eriol?" Anthony asked.

"Eriol's..." Sakura started to say, but trailed off. How do you begin to describe somebody like Eriol. Powerful. Insightful. Manipulative. Benevolent. Enigmatic. "...a friend."

"Eriol is that boy you were with in Diagon Alley, correct?" Lisa asked.

"That's right," Syaoran confirmed.

"What happened?" Sakura asked.

"I was asking Professor Mizuki about sending some things to Hong Kong, like we were talking about, and she said that Eriol's disappeared. The last she's heard of him was last night, after he had sent Mei-Ling home. She tried to talk to him this morning, and he was gone. Ruby and Spinel, too," Syaoran explained.

"That's terrible. Shouldn't we report it or something. They might be in trouble," Sakura said.

"I asked Professor Mizuki, and she didn't seem too worried. She just said that she wasn't surprised and that Eriol could handle himself," Syaoran said.

"If she says so," Sakura said, not very convinced but willing to go along with Kaho's judgment on the matter. A more immediate problems showed itself then. "If Eriol's gone, then how are we supposed to send and receive mail?"

"Can't you use an owl?" Anthony asked.

"That's what Professor Mizuki suggested. She said I should just give the letter to Siufui, and that it should work itself out somehow," Syaoran said.

"What about me? Does that mean that I should be giving my mail to Kero-chan to deliver?" Sakura asked.

"I'd guess so. Maybe he can make himself useful for once in that case," Syaoran said. He then snorted to himself and said, "It's not half as fun when he's not around to hear it."

"Should you really be teasing a," Lisa lowered her voice to finish asking, "fire-breathing lion like that?"

"You mean Kero-chan? He's harmless," Syaoran reassured her. He then got a thoughtful look and corrected himself, "Mostly harmless."

The rest of the meal passed by quickly. As late as she was to dinner, Sakura didn't really have a chance to really eat her fill, and she certainly didn't have the time to slow down and savor the meal. Nevertheless, Sakura wouldn't be going hungry that night, even if she did want another cookie. She barely had the presence of mind to grab one for Keroberos, and it tempted her dearly.

After they had exited the Great Hall, they made their way to one of the disused classrooms to hold the first in what would undoubtedly be countless homework study sessions.

* * *

Last Updated: August 14, 2013


	6. 6: Sakura and Tryouts and Invitations

Chapter 6: Sakura and Tryouts and Invitations

Syaoran may have been experiencing a whole new world for the first time, but not Sakura. Hogwarts held no surprises for her. After the year she had already spent in the Scottish school of magic, her expectations for classes and life had all been well established before even leaving Japan. Classes, meals, studying, playing. All of these matched her expectations as the days at Hogwarts slowly transformed themselves into weeks. This was for the better as well as for the worse.

Sakura had held both hope and fear for Charms class this year. Of the two feelings, fear turned out to have been the more appropriate emotion to have felt. She felt bad saying it, given the class was taught by her own head of house, but she really disliked Charms class. Increasingly so as time went on. She could almost hear Professor Flitwick's voice in her head. "Just read the book." "That's the way it's always been done." "Why can't you follow instructions?" "Stop daydreaming and pay attention." "Can't you do anything the right way?"

Days with Charms class dragged by slowly.

This was in sharp contrast to days with Potions class. The fact class with Professor Snape was double normal length meant those days practically flew by. They would have lunch, then Potions, and then the day would be over. Then she would be able to meet up with Syaoran again.

Sakura reflected on these differences as she stirred the cauldron in front of her. This potion was modestly more complicated than her previous ones. Professor Snape had emphasized that timing was especially essential, and this potion had a lot of waiting involved in its preparation. There was plenty of time to relax and think about whatever idle thoughts crossed her mind.

They had moved on to more complicated potions as compared to her first-year, such as Angel's Trumpet Draughts, Regerminating Potions, and the Pepperup Potion she currently had brewing in front of her. Thus far into the school year, the additional complexity of their new potions hadn't yet been a problem for Sakura. If anything, it just made her that much more interested in the field of study. She wouldn't necessarily say that Potions was her absolute single most favorite class, but if it wasn't then it was definitely one of her more favorite ones.

"Kinomoto," Professor Snape called out, catching her attention after she had dropped the last of her fairy wings into the cauldron.

"Hoe?" Sakura exclaimed in reflex. Professor Snape rarely called her out, and his addressing her caught her by surprise. For a brief moment he reminded her of Professor Flitwick. Sakura then corrected herself, asking, "Yes, Professor Snape?"

"I'd like a word with you after class today," Professor Snape said.

The pit of her stomach dropped out at that declaration. That flicker of recognition had been foreboding. Professor Flitwick had asked her to stay behind after class enough times that she knew what Professor Snape's request meant. She had just messed up and would need remedial work. Again.

A quick look in the potions textbook revealed what the problem was. Her potion was nowhere near as dark as the vermilion it should have been before adding the fairy wings to it. She had added them too early. If only she had paid more attention, she could have avoided ruining another one of her classes in the school. The only good thing was that the session was almost over, so Sakura wouldn't have much time to brood over it before judgment would be upon her.

"Oooo," one of the Hufflepuff boys said mockingly. "So Sakura finally does something wrong."

"Quiet, MacMillan. Minus three points to Hufflepuff," Professor Snape snapped out.

Fair or not, the loss of points silenced the room. The short remainder of the class was spent with students finishing their Pepperup Potions and then cleaning their supplies.

On the way out, Lisa whispered a quick, "Good luck." Then all of the other students were gone and Sakura was left alone with Professor Snape.

Sakura hesitated, but there was no way out of it. The room was empty, so it wasn't like she could really hide or anything. She approached the desk at the front of the room. Professor Snape stood behind it, looking more towering and more imposing than she had ever seen him before. Sakura asked, "You wanted to see me, Professor?"

Professor Snape stared down at Sakura with a measured eye. Sakura found herself intimidated.

"Hand me your Potions textbook," Professor Snape ordered.

Sakura dutifully retrieved it and handed it over.

Professor Snape opened the book, checked the cover for something, flipped through several pages, and finally ended up opening the book to the section on the Pepperup Potion formula. As Professor Snape did so, he asked, "Tell me, Kinomoto. Why did you mix the knotgrass with the salamander tail before you added it to the potion?"

"The instructions said to add them at the same time and I thought it'd be easier if they were already together," Sakura answered. Professor Snape had emphasized how important timing was, and she had thought it would simplify things and make the potion easier to make.

"I see," Professor Snape said, continuing to carefully watch Sakura. "And what about the fairy wings. Why did you mix them with your wand?"

Had she? She couldn't remember doing that. Certainly not intentionally. She really shouldn't have been daydreaming that much. She hesitantly ventured, "I'm sorry. I don't remember."

"This is the Pepperup Potion that Jones brewed earlier," Professor Snape said, sliding a flask of amber liquid across the table towards Sakura. "Tell me. What do you make of it?"

That threw Sakura for a loop, but she wasn't about to cause problems for another student. She barely looked at it before quickly answering, "It seems fine to me."

Professor Snape raised his eyes and looked down his nose at Sakura in a skeptical glare. He said, "Honestly, Kinomoto. This isn't going to hurt Jones. Tell me what you really think of it."

Sakura didn't know what Professor Snape expected of her, so she hesitated more. She slowly reached out for the flask, and when Professor Snape didn't object, she picked it up. It felt a bit off to her, even though she couldn't exactly verbalize what it felt like.

Professor Snape continued to stare at her, and Sakura felt the pressure of the room's silence continue to mount. She tried to put her vague, indescribable feelings into words.

"It feels a bit... maybe... sour?" Sakura hesitantly asked as much as said.

"Very well," Professor Snape said, snatching the potion out of Sakura's hand. "Tell me, Kinomoto. Have you ever put any thought into becoming a Potions-Mistress?"

"Hoe?" Sakura asked. Of the questions she had been expected, that was most certainly not one of them.

"You have a real talent. If you were to focus your studies, you could go far," Professor Snape said.

"I could? But what about the other students?" Sakura asked. She felt she did well enough in class, but others were good as well.

"Your classmates? They're worthless," Professor Snape scowled. "Less than a third of each class will qualify in their O.W.L.s for further studies, and that's in Slytherin and Ravenclaw. The dunderheads in Gryffindor and Hufflepuff will be lucky if they get even half of that."

"Why's that? Potions aren't that difficult. It's just mixing things together," Sakura said. She realized her gaff right after it left her mouth.

"That's exactly what I mean," Professor Snape said, seeming to not care that Sakura had dismissed his field of expertise. "That you think that shows exactly how lucky you are. Making potions is not just putting ingredients together. A muggle could do that. The process for brewing a Felix Felicis potion is well known, but I could only brew one if I were to have an exceptionally lucky month. The real secret of potions is in the magic. You imbue everything you make with a part of your personality, your attribute, your very essence. That's the reason only certain people can make certain potions, and why there's only ever been one person known to have successfully created a Philosopher's Stone."

If the use of magic was intrinsic to crafting potions, it answered the question Sakura had had about why Tomoyo and other muggles couldn't make them, even though Tomoyo had followed the same instructions Sakura had step-by-step. It raised another one, though. She asked, "What about those potions in our book? If everybody makes potions differently then how do they work?"

"These? They're nothing more than children's toys; the most basic formula for the masses. The real secret to potions is when you start to innovate. You're already doing it. I can tell. That's why your potions come out better than everybody else's."

"Hoe?" Sakura asked again.

"You don't need to answer right now. This is a very serious decision and you're only starting your second-year. There is a long time to go yet. Just think about it. If you want to truly become a Potions-Mistress, let me know and I'll arrange for some private lessons for you," Professor Snape said. He then handed Sakura's textbook back to her.

Sakura's mind was whirling. She wasn't sure exactly what happened next, although she was sure she had said something appropriate before leaving Professor Snape. The next thing she knew, she was standing in front of the door which blocked entrance into Ravenclaw Tower.

"What aspect does salamander add to a potion?" the knocker on the door asked her.

Sakura shook herself out of her thoughtfulness. The question of what to do or not do in regard to Professor Snape's offer was far less pressing than the question of whether or not she could get into her dorm room in time to drop off her supplies before meeting Syaoran.

A more impartial person would have said she was dropping off her supplies in preparation for meeting Gloria. Sakura and the others were going to go watch the Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts. Gloria had invited everybody interested to come. That group included Syaoran, though, and with him around it was hard for Sakura to think of the upcoming meeting as being with anybody but him.

In either case, daydreaming about Professor Snape's strange offer or her upcoming meeting with Syaoran would do nothing to get her into Ravenclaw Tower. She was sure that somebody else would either enter or leave the tower soon, but she was in a hurry and wanted to meet up with Syaoran sooner rather than later.

Salamanders was the question. Salamanders in potions. So, what potions actually used salamanders? The most obvious one was the Pepperup Potion, which was still at the forefront of Sakura's mind given the lesson they had just had. There was also the Chill-Warming Draught, which helped sick people who got the chills to feel better. Between those two, and the fact that Sakura knew salamanders both lived in and ate fire, the answer was obvious: they added heat or warmth to a potion.

Then again, it wouldn't do to be too hasty. She had been certain of her answer in the past and been proven to be incorrect before. Sakura thought more about what other potions she knew that used salamanders. There was Strengthening Solution, Cough Potion, Dragon Tonic, and Invigoration Draught as well. Dragon Tonic could conceivably be heat related due to a dragon breathing fire, but none of the other three fit with her theory. So what else could there be?

Sakura thought more about it, trying to tease out the commonality between all of the potions she could think of. She came to her conclusion and declared, "It adds an aspect of health to a potion."

"Well said," the knocker answered, and then opened the way for Sakura.

So the knocker was on a potions theme now. That was new. She should pass the word along to the other Ravenclaw students when she had a chance, as a courtesy to the others. The new subject was a relief. She could finally stop carrying the Arithmancy reference volume around with her. As she had actually studied potions in class, she felt like she actually had a chance on her own now. That was unless it was actually on a magical creature theme, in which case she would need to replace the Arithmancy book with a magical creatures one. That would be annoying, as most magical creatures tomes were either heavier or more dangerous than her Arithmancy book. She really hoped it was a potions theme.

"What do you think you're doing?" Penelope's shout could be heard clearly, made all the more attention grabbing by the fact that the Ravenclaw common room was as quiet as it was. It startled Sakura and made her snap her attention to the prefect. What had she done? She quickly thought back.

It was only after a few moments that she realized Penelope wasn't addressing her. Sakura, along with the other students in the room, joined in staring at the prefect yelling at a young girl.

Sakura let out a groan and shook her head. She should have known. It was Luna. She had a palette in one hand, a brush in the other, and a crudely drawn rainbow on the wall in front of her.

"I think I'm drawing a rainbow," Luna said. Her voice was much more calm than the prefect's, but it still carried in the now deathly still room. "What do you think I'm doing?"

Penelope didn't bother trying to answer Luna's question. Doing so always led down a rabbit hole totally tangential to the topic at hand. Instead she asked, "And just why do you think you're drawing a rainbow?"

"Well, there's the red out here, and then the orange inside of it, and then the yellow..." Luna said, pointing to each band of color as she did so.

"No!" Penelope shouted, cutting the girl off. "I mean why are you drawing a rainbow?"

"This room's too boring. There's just a lot of blue and gray. I thought it could use more color," Luna answered. Her eyes only briefly looked at Penelope before turning back to the wall in front of her.

"The room is supposed to be blue and gray; that's Ravenclaw's colors!" Penelope shouted, clearly both frustrated and angry.

"I see. I thought they'd just run out of the other ones," Luna said. She then turned back to her palette and asked, "What do you think? More red?"

"No!" Penelope continued to shout. In the past three weeks, Luna had caused more shouting in Ravenclaw Tower than the entire previous year in total. "No more painting. You're going to put your paint away and then clean up this mess you made."

"Okay," Luna said, seemingly unfazed in the least by the girl yelling right next to her. She put her palette and paintbrush down, turned, and started walking towards Sakura.

"I meant clean this up right now!" Penelope shouted at Luna's back.

"Right now? Why didn't you say that in the first place?" Luna asked. She turned back to her painting supplies and the picture she had drawn on the wall.

Sakura quickly went to her dorm room while this confrontation was ongoing. She was tempted to gawk and find out how everything would be resolved, but she was on a timetable. Once at her desk, it was a quick thing for Sakura to drop off all of her textbooks. She wouldn't need any of them for the rest of the day.

A quick glance around the room did not reveal Keroberos anywhere, and Sakura could feel that he was out on the Hogwarts grounds somewhere not too close but not too distant either. He had probably gotten bored from always waiting in the Ravenclaw dormitories. Sakura didn't really like him wandering around on his own, but she honestly couldn't expect him to just sit on her bed bored all day while she went to classes. If she needed him, she would also be able to find him without too much difficulty.

Well it would be his own fault if he missed the Quidditch tryouts. He always enjoyed the sport far more than Sakura herself did, and she was sure he'd regret his decision to go flying off to somewhere in the forest, assuming Sakura's feelings were correct, rather than stick around and wait for classes to finish.

Sakura double-checked that she had everything she wanted. Then, having second thoughts, she picked up up her Arithmancy tome again, just in case, and grabbed an encyclopedia of magical creatures to add to it. She considered adding her potions book to the stack as well, but she had enough books already and could probably fudge her way through a potions question if she needed to.

Everything stocked, she returned to the common room, headed for the exit to Ravenclaw Tower. Once there, in the silence of the room, it was easy to hear Luna ask, "You said to get rid of the paint, didn't you?"

"I meant to get rid of your paint, not all of the paint!" Penelope screamed at the young girl.

That piqued Sakura's attention. Despite herself she stopped and looked at the scene. Luna's paintbrush and palette had disappeared. The girl instead had a wand in her hand. She was innocently facing the prefect, standing right beside the white wall.

White wall?

Sakura took another look. Indeed, where previously there had been the childishly drawn bright rainbow there was now a rainbow-shaped white section on the wall.

Luna stared at the absence of decoration she had made for a second, then slowly said, "I see what you mean. Kruzals would be attracted to that, I suppose." Luna then raised her wand.

Sakura quickly dodged out of Ravenclaw Tower. She just knew that nothing good could come of this. Another shout by Penelope, audible even through the door as it closed behind her, suggested that she had been right.

A quick trip through a hidden passage she had found in the past with the others, and Sakura found herself in the Great Hall. It was the place everybody had agreed to meet. It wasn't the exact center of the four dorms and it wasn't the strictly speaking the closest place for any of them; but given the dispersed nature of the four houses it was a central enough, and it had plenty of room for them to congregate while waiting for everybody to arrive.

Syaoran and Gloria were already waiting in the Great Hall and sitting at the Gryffindor table when Sakura arrived. Syaoran must have been as eager as Sakura to meet up, whereas Gloria was the one for whom this meeting was taking place. She had a large broom propped up against the table next to where she sat.

It didn't take a master of divination to figure out what they were talking about. Gloria still maintained her one-track mind for Quidditch, and ever since Syaoran had first taken to the skies on a broom it had been all he had wanted to talk about as well.

"And the broom won't fall down or something?" Syaoran asked Gloria as Sakura took a seat next to him.

"Of course not, but you need to make sure you have a good grip. They played the All-Africa Cup in the middle of a hurricane back in 1961, and the..." Gloria said before she cut herself off. "Oh, hello Sakura."

"Hello, Gloria. Hello, Syaoran-kun," Sakura greeted the pair. "I just had the strangest conversation."

"Really? What was it?" Gloria asked.

"Was Flitwick causing problems again?" Syaoran asked. "That little dwarf's such a pain."

"He's half-goblin, not half-dwarf," Gloria corrected Syaoran, "and I don't see what problem you and Sakura have with him. He's a pretty decent professor."

"My problem with him is that he's always yelling at me, even when I'm the first person in the class to float that feather," Syaoran said. "What happened? Did he give you detention again?"

"Not this time," Sakura answered. Ever since that first detention on that first day of school, Sakura's head of house hadn't given her another one. He hadn't docked any points from Ravenclaw, either. He'd restricted himself to just strongly encouraging Sakura to continue to practice her charms, for all the good it did. "It was actually Professor Snape this time."

An angry look crossed Gloria's face at the mention of the head of Slytherin. She asked, "What'd that greasy git do this time?"

"That's my head of house, not some greasy git, and I don't see what problem you have with him. He's a pretty decent professor," Syaoran said to Gloria, mimicking her words from earlier.

"He didn't do anything. I mean nothing bad," Sakura said. "He invited me to do have some private Potions lessons with him."

"You mean like Flitwick always asks me to do private Charms lessons?" Syaoran asked. "How's that not bad?"

"He said that he thought that I was better than everybody else and that he wanted to help me get even better. Something about some owls or something," Sakura said.

"And you're seriously considering doing it?" Gloria asked.

"I'm not sure," Sakura admitted.

"Well, better you than me. I still don't see how you can stand the guy. I wouldn't spend any more time with him than absolutely necessary," Gloria said.

"I still don't get why you're always so negative about him. He's better than Flitwick by a long shot," Syaoran said.

"Only because he's the most..." Gloria started saying, before cutting herself off again when Lisa and Wayne took a seat as well. "Oh, hey there. We were just talking about Snape."

"I could tell," Lisa said. "I swear, your dislike of him is most irrational."

"It's not just me," Gloria protested. "Everybody in Gryffindor agrees."

Wayne shrugged, staying out of the conversation.

"Anthony told me he had to look something up for that Herbology homework we have, so I think we are all here," Lisa said, trying to stop that old argument before it flared up again.

"Are you nervous for the tryout?" Sakura asked as all five of them got to their feet and Gloria picked up her broom.

"A little," Gloria admitted as they started walking to the Quidditch pitch where the tryouts were being held. "What about you four? Why aren't any of you trying out for your teams?"

"Quidditch isn't really my thing," Sakura answered first, holding Syaoran's hand as they walked outside.

"It would take far too much time from my studying," Lisa said agreed, holding Wayne's hand.

"Ravenclaws," Gloria said, shaking her head. She turned to the other two boys and asked, "What about you two?"

"Don't look at me. I'd love to try out, but first-year, remember?" Syaoran said.

"I'm scared of the Bludgers," Wayne openly admitted.

"The Bludgers? How can you be scared of the Bludgers? People almost never get any serious permanent injuries from them," Gloria said dismissively, completely oblivious to three pairs of eyes staring at her incredulously.

"So, what are the tryouts like? Is there going to be a test of some kind?" Sakura asked.

"No idea," Gloria admitted. "I assume they'll be some trials like throwing the Quaffle into the hoops or something, seeing how I'm trying out for a Chaser position."

"Is anybody else trying out?" Wayne asked.

"Of course. Let's see. There's Seamus, and Neil, and Fay," Gloria said. She was looking up in the air and counting off against her fingers. "There's also Kellah, and David, and Bern, and Iain. That's just the people I know for sure."

"Wow. That's a lot of people," Sakura said, duly impressed. So many people trying out for so few positions, most of which would already be filled by the previous year's players.

"No kidding. I wish I was in Ravenclaw or something. It'd be so much easier to get on the team," Gloria commented.

When they got to the pitch, it was clear that Gloria had not been exaggerating the amount of interest in Gryffindor. It seemed like a quarter of the entire house was milling around on the pitch, every one of them carrying a broom of some sort.

As they approached, Sakura noticed something odd. As they drew near all of the nervous and amiable murmuring quieted down, leaving a circle of silence all around them. More and more people were staring at their small group, and at Syaoran in particular. Many of the looks they were receiving were downright hostile.

Eventually one of the Gryffindor boys, somebody Sakura didn't recognize, walked up to them. He stood right in front of Syaoran and challenged, "Where do you think you're going?"

Not one to be intimidated, even by a boy who stood a full head taller than him, Syaoran let go of Sakura's hand and stood up to the boy. He declared, "I'm here to watch the tryouts. Got a problem with that?"

The older boy answered, "And who invited you, snake?"

"Back off, Barry. Syaoran's with me," Gloria declared, firmly but not quite as openly hostile as the boy.

"Gloria. I should have known. Back in my time, we knew where our house loyalties were," the boy, apparently named Barry, said.

As if by magic, the lanky form of Oliver appeared next to the three of them. He said in an amiable voice loud enough to be heard all around, "Easy there, Bazza. It's not the boy's fault he's got good taste in Quidditch teams."

For a second Sakura thought Barry might push on despite what Oliver said. Ultimately he yielded to the Qudditch team captain. Barry snorted and then walked away, pushing through the crowd which had gathered around. He vanished into the throng of people surrounding them. Bereft of the show, the crowd dispersed back to its semi-random small groupings again.

Once Barry was out of sight, Oliver turned to Gloria and said, "Good to see you out here, Gloria."

"Oh, you know me," Gloria said casually back. She then turned to the others in her group and introduced, "This is Oliver, the captain of the Gryffindor team. These are my friends, Lisa, Wayne, Syaoran, and Sakura."

"Sakura. I remember you. You're that Ravenclaw Gloria's always bringing to those games, right?" Oliver asked.

"Right. I hope it won't be a problem with us watching," Sakura answered. The scene from before might be over, but the confrontation had still managed to shake her up.

"Nah. Any friend of Gloria's all right by my books. Stay out of the way and you'll be fine. If anybody causes you any problems, you just let me know about it," Oliver reassured Sakura. "Anyway, we should get this thing started."

"Everybody, we'll be starting the tryouts now!" Oliver shouted, addressing all of the assembled students.

"If you are interested in trying out to be a Chaser, follow Angelina!" Oliver shouted. On cue, a girl with her hair tied back raised her broom and waived it, ensuring everybody saw her.

"Beaters, follow George!" Oliver continued. Both of the Weasley twins mimicked Angelina's broom waiving, and then split up and moved to separate areas of the Qudditch pitch.

Ignoring the twin's antics, Oliver continued, "Keepers and Seekers, follow me and Harry!"

The boy with that lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead was standing next to Oliver, looking like he wanted to be anywhere else but here. He was just as scrawny as ever. If it hadn't been for Gloria's insistence that he was a prodigy of a Seeker, and the fact that he had been center of all of the events surrounding the Philosopher's Stone the previous year, Sakura could have mistaken him as just another ordinary boy. An ordinary boy which gave her a weird feeling whenever he was near.

"Oh, I guess that's me then. Wish me luck," Gloria said, then separated from the others to follow Angelina.

"Friendly house," Syaoran said sarcastically, although in a low enough voice that only the three people around him could hear.

"I don't know what that was all about. They've never been that bad to me before," Sakura said. There were a couple of odd looks at times, but never such outright hostility.

"They have never been so rude to me, either," Lisa chimed in.

"Me either," Wayne agreed.

"Whatever. Anyway these tryouts will probably take a while. Let's find a seat," Syaoran suggested.

Sakura, Syaoran, Lisa, and Wayne took seats in one of the spectator stands, as near as possible to the goalposts where the throng of would-be Chasers were gathered around. They made themselves comfortable for what promised to be a long event.

The Chaser tryouts turned out to be a random mix of tests. They had to fly around the pitch and catch a Quaffle passed towards them from a variety directions and speeds, throw the Quaffle into the goalposts at various distances and heights, dodge a Bludger which was set upon them, and both chase and try to evade the other students for a period of time.

The flying wasn't as impressive as the actual Quidditch games Sakura had seen in the past. However they were still interesting enough to watch. Interesting enough that Syaoran kept saying things like, "When do I get to learn that?" and "I want to do that."

Sakura still preferred using The Fly to literally fly on her own two wings. Her first experiences on the broom had been painfully short and she had never forgotten that. Despite that, she could appreciate how much Syaoran enjoyed his initial classes in flying on a broom. Judging by how much the current first-year students raved about it, Sakura suspected that the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff classes of her year were more the exception than the rule.

Gloria's efforts at the tryout had mixed results. She never outright dropped the Quaffle, unlike most of the others. In Sakura's inexpert judgment, it looked like Gloria was able to both chase and evade her fellow competitors better than the others. Gloria also was at least average at throwing the Quaffle into the goal posts, if not a bit above average. On the other hand, Gloria did almost fall off of her broom while evading a Bludger. She narrowly avoided the ball, but lost her grip and had ended up hanging by a single hand. That had given Sakura quite the panic, and her hand clutched at the Key in case an emergency interdiction was necessary. However, Gloria had managed to recover herself before the Bludger swung around to finish the job.

Despite Gloria's near disastrous foibles, Sakura and the others congratulated her on her performance when they met up after the tryouts were over. In turn, Gloria seemed rather enthusiastic with her performance and was optimistic with how the results would turn out when they were announced in a few days.

The sun was low in the sky, but it still provided plenty of light as they walked back to Hogwarts Castle. The fact that tryouts were being done so early in the year was a good thing. The days were starting to get shorter, but even after the long tryouts there was still plenty of time for them to return to the castle before night fell. It made for a picturesque scene as Sakura walked with her friends back from the Quidditch pitch to Hogwarts castle proper, once again hand-in-hand with Syaoran. The warm glow of companionship surrounded her.

The tryouts had taken right up until dinnertime, and the fact that there was just barely time to go to the dorm rooms and drop off their brooms ensured that there would be several smelly Gryffindor students for dinner. Ravenclaw had had to undergo a similar trial two days ago, and undoubtedly the other two houses would need to suffer through the same thing in the coming week.

None of this was a problem for Sakura. The only things she had on her person were her ever-present cards, the Key, and a couple of reference books for the Ravenclaw knocker, none of which she needed to drop off at the dorms. Likewise, none of the other spectators had any reason to return to their dorms, so Sakura got to squeeze in another couple of minutes with Syaoran as they made their way to the Great Hall along with Lisa and Wayne. Partway there, they bid Gloria a quick farewell as she dashed away to Gryffindor Tower.

Even with their casual walking speed, Sakura and the others were still a bit early for dinner. The room was basically empty, and they had their choice of where they wanted to sit. With the current count of people being two Ravenclaws, one Hufflepuff, and one Slytherin, it was an easy decision. By unspoken consensus the four of them walked to a section near the end of the Ravenclaw table and sat, Syaoran next to Sakura and Lisa next to Wayne.

They were still talking about Gloria's tryouts, which primarily entailed Syaoran raving about the flying with the others throwing in a comment only occasionally, as the room filled up with the other students eager for their evening meal. Sakura just sat there, enjoying listening to her boyfriend talk. She barely even noticed anything else until Anthony took a seat next to her.

"Hey, Sakura, how were the tryouts?" Anthony asked.

"Very interesting," Sakura answered. "Gloria did really well."

"I'm sorry I missed it," Anthony said to Sakura.

"How was your studying? Did you find what you were looking for?" Lisa asked.

As they spoke, the Hogwarts house elves quickly placed dinner plates on the table. Besides Syaoran, nobody really paid them any heed beyond the extent needed to slightly move to the left or right to get out of their way when necessary. Even Sakura had become inured over the previous year, so the small army deftly arranging dinner was unremarkable to her.

"It was fine. Nothing too special. Another year, more studying, same as always," Anthony said half-resigned.

"I agree. I need to do more charms practice later," Sakura said. She got a sour look on her face at that thought. She really agreed with Syaoran about Professor Flitwick being entirely too strict.

"I can help you with that," Anthony said, with a slight tick of hesitation and nervousness in his voice. He then added, "With your charms practice later, I mean."

"That's a really good idea. You always were good at charms," Sakura said, causing Anthony to noticeably brighten. "Syaoran-kun, do you want to come too? We can make it a group session."

Anthony's face fell, ending up darker than it had started.

"Sure, I guess. Professor Flitwick's been giving me a hard time," Syaoran said.

"I meant... never mind," Anthony said. He looked disappointed for some reason, although Sakura didn't understand why.

"Can I come too? My charms could use some assistance as well," Lisa asked.

"Sure. How about you, Wayne?" Sakura asked.

"Nah, my charms are fine. I need to do more astronomy work. Always astronomy work," Wayne said with a sigh.

"It's suspicious that we can only see the stars at night, isn't it?" Luna's voice chimed in, sounding her uninvited arrival in their group. She was sitting on the other side of Syaoran, and spoke in a voice loud enough to be heard by the whole group despite her distance.

"What's so suspicious of that? It's just the sun blocking them out, isn't it?" Wayne asked back.

"So you're thinking corruption. Is that why we need to watch them all the time?" Luna asked. "Do you think they're in league with the aurors?"

"What?" Wayne and Lisa asked in chorus.

"What're you doing here, anyway?" Anthony asked. "Shouldn't you be with the other first-years?"

"They're boring. There's one girl, but she wasn't really all herself. It's much more interesting here. Like Sakura and Syaoran. They have an entirely different type of magic, you know," Luna said, still in her prominent voice. There wasn't anything particularly rude or incorrect about how she was speaking, but something about the tenor or loudness or something made it stand out and feel subtly inappropriate.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked nervously, regretting it almost immediately.

"It's pretty obvious," Luna firmly declared without explaining. "What are you two up to? Are you going to banish all the ghosts in the castle? Is that why Peeves is so scared of you, Sakura?"

Yet another surprise declaration from the girl full of surprises. Sakura had no idea how Luna had figured that out. It had only been three weeks since the term had started, and several older students who had been around for months since Sakura's encounter with Peeves the previous term and not yet noticed that connection.

Sakura quickly looked around, seeing if anybody had taken notice what Luna had said. She wanted to keep that particular escapade a secret. If people made that connection and started searching into Peeves's aversion to Sakura, that would be especially difficult. But it seemed like nobody took any notice of Luna's declaration.

It appeared like nobody had heard Luna. Or people had heard her but had paid her no attention. After only a couple of weeks of all the wrackspurts and conspiracies and the other weird ideas that the girl was becoming known for, dismissing Luna was rapidly becoming second nature to everybody within Ravenclaw.

Regardless of the reason, Sakura was thankful.

* * *

By the standards of Tokyo, Hogwarts Castle was immense, which was perfect in that it meant that there were numerous disused classrooms, nooks, and crannies in which students could find space to practice whatever magical endeavors they sought to improve. The particular room that Sakura, Syaoran, Anthony, Lisa, and the newly joined Gloria and Keroberos selected for this round of charms practice was an old and somewhat disheveled classroom in the basement of the castle.

They had managed to lose Luna along the way. She had continued to follow them after the hectic shuffling after dinner had ended, but as the group had been walking through the hallways Luna had announced that she thought she had seen a Blibbering Humdinger and veered off into one of the rooms they had passed by.

Nobody else in the group even knew what a Blibbering Humdinger was. Nobody else wanted to find out.

Once they were in the classroom, Sakura quickly chanted from memory in Japanese, "Key which hides the powers of stars, show your true power before me. Under the contract, Sakura commands you. Release!"

Fed by the magic within Sakura, the Key grew from a small charm into a larger form. Once it reached size, out of habit she flipped and swung it down towards the ground with a flourish that would have met with Tomoyo's approval.

"What did you summon that for, Sakura? I thought that we were going to be practicing our charms," Lisa asked her.

"I am, with this," Sakura explained.

"That works?" Syaoran asked. "I thought that Eastern and Western magic don't mix like that."

"Of course you can," Keroberos scoffed at Syaoran, causing him to bristle a bit. "You don't even need a wand to cast charms; the wand just makes it not take much of the caster's power."

"Are you quite sure?" Lisa asked. "Little children can do accidental magic, but it is not like they can intentionally cast magic without a wand."

"Of course I'm sure. All a wand does is give another source of power. It's not like you really need a wand or anything else at all, if you're strong enough," Keroberos said confidently.

"How does that even work?" Anthony asked.

"It... it just does," Keroberos said, much more hesitantly than before.

"Are you sure about that? I've never heard of that before," Gloria said.

"If Kero-chan says it's possible then it's possible," Sakura supported Keroberos. Still she wondered how that topic had never come up before. Now she was curious as to what, if anything, she could do on her own unaided. She certainly wasn't going to try in front of an audience for the first time, though.

"So why are you using the Key then instead of using your wand?" Syaoran asked.

"It's easier to use," Sakura said. "I figured it out over the summer. It's a lot easier to feel the charms when I use it."

"Oh, it is?" Gloria asked. "Can I try?"

"Hoe?" Sakura asked. She was a bit hesitant, but couldn't think of a good reason not to. It wasn't as if it was one of the cards she kept in her pocket, with their past history of acting up. Besides, she would be right there in case anything went wrong. "I guess so."

Sakura held out the Key to Gloria, who took hold of the handle. When Sakura let go of it, the Key shrank back into its smaller form.

"Hey. What happened?" Gloria asked.

"The Key changes form to channel more or less magic through it. You don't have enough magic in you to support it," Keroberos said, nodding twice to himself.

"Are you certain? Sakura always say something quite long whenever she makes the, what did you call it, the Key expand. Might it be related to that?" Lisa asked.

"It won't do any good," Keroberos said half-heartedly.

"Still, worth a shot. No reason not to. What is that you say all the time, anyway?" asked Anthony.

"Oh, in English too. I don't think I could repeat all of that in Japanese," Gloria added.

"Hoe..." Sakura said thoughtfully. She had said her ritual chant so frequently that it had lost all meaning to her, becoming merely a sequence of words she automatically spoke. She had to actually repeat the words in her head to figure out what she had been saying.

"Key which hides the power of the stars, reveal your true power to me. Under the contract, I command you. Release," Sakura said in the best translation she could come up with on the fly.

Gloria repeated her words, more or less. Despite them, the Key remained inert in her hand.

"Are you sure that's the right thing to say?" Gloria asked. She handed the small Key back to Sakura.

"I think so," Sakura said.

"Maybe it doesn't work in English. Why don't you try it in English and see what happens?" Syaoran suggested.

"Okay, Syaoran-kun," Sakura said. She repeated her words yet again in English, and literally like magic the Key grew within her hand just as easily as if she had said the chant in Japanese.

"Can I try?" Anthony asked.

"Sure," Sakura said, handing the key over. Once it left Sakura's possession, once again the Key shrank in size just like it had for Gloria.

"What is that about a contract?" Lisa asked as Anthony tried his hand at making the Key expand. He had no more luck than Gloria had had. "Magical contracts can be quite serious things."

"It had more to do with the cards than the Key. It's a long story," Keroberos said.

"A very long story," Sakura agreed.

"A very, very long story," Syaoran agreed, shaking his head.

"It doesn't matter for any of this," Keroberos finished.

"If you are quite certain," Lisa hesitantly said.

"Do you want to give it a try?" Anthony asked Lisa, holding the Key out to her.

"No, no, that is quite alright," Lisa said quickly, shaking one of her hands to ward the Key away and taking a small step back.

As Anthony handed the Key back to Sakura, Gloria asked, "Oh, what about Syaoran? Can he make the Key get all big then too?"

"That squirt? He'd be lucky if the Key didn't shrink even more in his hands," Keroberos taunted the boy.

"Pfft..." Syaoran scoffed. "Yeah, right. I can handle it no problem. I heard it wasn't too different than my sword."

Syaoran put words into action and pulled out a small orb from his pocket. Sakura and Keroberos had seen it countless times before. Lisa, who hadn't been there for the incident on the train, watched carefully as he let it drop from his hand, whereupon he held it by a loop of string. Thereupon the string magically lengthened, a sword appearing at the other end of the orb in Syaoran's hand. At that point he let go of the string to let the orb fall and hang from the hilt of the now fully formed jian he now held in his hand.

All of the British students took a step back from the impressive looking blade.

"Do you actually know how to use that thing?" Anthony asked.

"Of course I do," Syaoran said.

"Syaoran-kun's a really good swordsman," Sakura agreed. Not only had he been able agile enough to avoid the expert marksmanship of The Shot, he had managed to save Sakura that time when The Sword had possessed Rika. He had then been confident enough to face Rika afterward, despite the fact that The Sword turned its wielder into a master swordsman. That Sakura had actually stopped him from fighting Rika was beside the point.

"That was far quieter than what Sakura does. Is it really the same thing?" Lisa asked.

"Why don't you try using her Key then, or Sakura use your sword thingy," Gloria suggested.

"Do you want to try it, Syaoran-kun?" Sakura asked. For some reason the idea of switching tools had never come up in the past. She looked at Syaoran.

"I don't see the point, but if you want to we can," Syaoran said.

Sakura had to admit to being at least slightly curious about Syaoran's jian, as well as to whether or not he could really use the Key. She said, "Sure, let's try."

Syaoran let his jian revert to its orb form, and the two exchanged items. Then, without any ceremony or fanfare, the Key expanded to size within his hand.

"How did you do that?" Anthony asked.

"I already told you. The same way I did with my jian," Syaoran answered.

"But you didn't chant or flip it or anything like Sakura does," Gloria explained.

"I didn't really see the point," Syaoran said casually.

The three British students turned to look at Sakura questioningly.

"It's more habit than anything. My best friend likes the ceremony when she videotapes it, and it doesn't really feel right if I don't do it anymore. See?" Sakura nervously answered the unspoken question.

Sakura still mentally went through the same chant in her head out of habit as she focused on the orb held in her hand. It felt very much like the Key did as it expanded in size. Unlike when Syaoran had formed the jian, the sword appeared pointing downward, hanging by the string which connected it to the orb Sakura was holding. In fact, the point of the sword was close to one of her feet, causing Syaoran to quickly reach over and grab the sword by its handle.

"Careful," Syaoran said. "It's sharp."

"Hoe," Sakura exclaimed. She let go of the orb, letting Syaoran take firm possession of the sword, while she in turn took the Key back from him. The tools might be similar, but she decidedly liked the nice, safe Key far more than the dangerously sharp sword. That was what Clow had intended when he had fashioned the Key way back when, of course. It was such a nice shade of pink, too.

"Okay, enough of that. We were going to practice some charms, right?" Anthony said. He looked annoyed for some reason.

"So what should we practice first?" Sakura asked.

"I would think the Incendio charm would be most appropriate, although that is a second-year charm so I do not know if that would be good for Syaoran," Lisa said.

"It's fine. It's got to be more interesting than that Ventus charm. I've been doing wind since I've was six. What's the Incendio charm do?" Syaoran asked.

"It lights things on fire," Anthony said like it was obvious common knowledge.

"Right..." Syaoran said, shaking his head. Then, with a sigh, he said, "Well, why not? So how does it work?"

"It's pretty similar to a Lumos charm. You just need to twist the wand a bit differently and say 'Incendio' instead of 'Lumos,'" Gloria said.

"Okay. Then what's a Lumos charm and how do I cast it?" Syaoran asked.

"Great..." Anthony said with a drawl.

"I can show you how to cast a Lumos charm. I have that one figured out already," Sakura said.

"You had best not teach him. He may end up casting it strangely, like you do," Lisa said. "It may be better if Anthony demonstrated the charm. He is the best charms caster of us here."

"Strangely?" Gloria asked.

"She created some glowing, floaty, blocky thing in class," Anthony clarified for Gloria. He was obviously beaming from Lisa's off-hand complement. "Actually maybe you should practice it too, Sakura. Here. To cast a Lumos charm, you need to hold you wand like this. Now you flick it like this, and say 'Lumos.'"

The end of Anthony's wand started to glow brightly as he finished the loop with his wand and finished saying the word.

Sakura and Syaoran both followed suit, following the motions and chants that Anthony had demonstrated moments earlier. Only instead of using their wands, Sakura used the Key and Syaoran used his jian.

As Sakura did so she could feel the currents of her power shaping up. It felt so much cleaner and clearer than when she used her wand, which made her feel like she was trying to sew while wearing oven mitts or something. She could feel how the turn of the Key, along with the spoken chant, twisted and connected her flows of magic into a particular shape which they didn't quite want to follow. The tip of the Key started glowing, making the star on its end appear similar to the celestial bodies it was supposed to represent. As it did so, she once again felt the feeling of slight wrongness that she had felt during her practice in the summer. It had been that sense of wrongness, and trying to correct it, that had resulted in her creating her version of the Lumos charm that Professor Flitwick had criticized at the start of classes.

Syaoran's effort, on the other hand, seemed to have no effect. No visible effect. Sakura could feel some amount of power coming from him, and in particular from his sword, but the bright light characteristic of a Lumos charm refused to appear.

Anthony suggested that Syaoran and Sakura switch to using their wands at that point, as he didn't think he could help very much with what they were doing. Gloria and Lisa were quick to nod in agreement with his suggestion, and Sakura didn't protest the idea either. As much as she trusted Syaoran, having him wave his jian around in their near vicinity was more than slightly intimidating.

Sakura, Gloria, and Anthony then went back to their original plan of practicing their Incindio charms while Syaoran tried to get the end of his wand to glow with a Lumos charm. Sakura felt a bit bad that Syaoran was being left out, but he said he didn't mind finally learning a charm which he couldn't already do a better version of.

The rest of the practice session went by quickly. It was far from the most productive session ever, even with Keroberos occasionally chiming in with his usual inscrutable yet somehow surprisingly useful advice. Then again, it was far from the least productive practice session either. Throughout it, Sakura was tempted to use the Key to see what she could figure out about the charm on her own, but she stuck to using her wand for the entire session. She could experiment with the Key some other time when she was alone with Syaoran.

* * *

Last Updated: September 26, 2013


	7. 7: Sakura and the Secrets of the Past

Chapter 7: Sakura and the Secrets of the Past

Breakfast was a rather ordinary affair. As usual, the room was mostly empty. The first-year students still outnumbered all of their more senior schoolmates, but their numbers were dropping quickly as the school year went on. The early Halloween decorations which had started to line the walls in preparation for the coming week did nothing to change that trend. The Great Hall was only sparsely populated by the few early-risers and by the even fewer students who prioritized breakfast over another few minutes of sleep.

For her part, Sakura viewed breakfast as a chance to spend more time with Syaoran. This turned her both into an early-riser as well as into somebody who ranked breakfast as more important than sleep, although both were more indirect byproducts of that fact.

Syaoran was sitting with Sakura at the Ravenclaw table. She occasionally ate with Syaoran at the Slytherin table when he managed to arrive at the Great Hall before she did, but she did prefer the Ravenclaw table. It could have just been some petty house pride, but she found that she didn't much care for some of the students in Slytherin. Just a few. Still, it was easier to sit at the Ravenclaw table and not have to worry about it.

Then again, she didn't fully care for all of her fellow students in Ravenclaw either. In particular, Luna still bothered her. She didn't dislike the girl as such, but she was just so weird. Whenever Sakura ended up speaking with Luna she couldn't help but feel that she was on a different page than the loony first-year girl with the protuberant eyes.

"The muggles summoned a burning rope against the Floppergump outbreaks," Luna casually said. She was also at the breakfast table with them.

A different page from an entirely different book at times.

Luna was reading from her morning copy of the Quibbler. She held it right-side up this time. Sometimes Luna read it one way and sometimes another. Sakura couldn't figure out why she switched back and forth and she had been too scared to ask. After all, Luna might try to explain.

While Sakura couldn't see the specific article Luna was referring to, the front cover showed some picture of some witch doing her best to preserve her modesty despite being upside-down, which was also odd given Luna's holding of the Quibbler right side-up this time. The only conclusion Sakura could reach was that the picture itself had been taken with the witch not entirely in a vertical position, although it didn't do to make too many inferences about the content of The Quibbler. Undoubtedly the article itself would explain things, if Sakura could and would read it.

Instead Sakura, Syaoran, and Lisa did what they unusually did and gave only perfunctory acknowledgment that Luna had said something. They instead mostly ignored the girl. They hoped that she would eventually get the hint and leave them alone, even though a month of this treatment hadn't yet yielded any results. Luna still sought them, or more specifically Sakura and Syaoran, out all the time. Even the hope that Luna would find some friends in her own year and leave them alone seemed scuppered, seeing how many of the first-years had started calling her "Loony Lovegood."

Sakura and the others refused to go that far, even if that nickname had started spreading to the older students. Started spreading for good reason.

"I'm going to seriously hurt that Malfoy brat one of these days," Syaroan continued to rant, ignoring the occasional comments Luna said about whatever item of the day was on the Quibbler.

"Do you mean Draco?" Lisa asked.

"What'd he do this time?" Sakura asked. Syaoran complained about different housemates from time to time, but Draco was the most prominent of his annoyances.

"You mean what hasn't he done? He's a prat. Seriously. He thinks I should stop seeing you because of some silly 'blood purity' thing. He says it's 'unbecoming of a Slytherin.' I swear I'm going to show him exactly where he can shove his precious bloodline if he doesn't stop soon," Syaoran said.

"Are you sure he said that? Maybe you misunderstood something," Sakura suggested.

"I don't see how I could be misunderstanding. He brings it up every chance he gets. He keeps calling you a 'mudblood,' whatever that means," Syaoran said.

Lisa gasped. The word obviously meant something to her.

"What's a 'mudblood?'" Sakura asked.

"Technically it is somebody who does not have two magical parents, but it is a rather nasty thing to call a person," Lisa said.

"Is it really that big a deal who your parents are?" Sakura asked.

"Only to some people. Honestly this Draco Malfoy sounds like quite an unsavory person," Lisa said.

"You're telling me. You're just lucky you don't have to be in the same house as him," Syaoran agreed. "That reminds me, do any of you know anything about some famous wizard named 'Merlin' or something? I tried asking around in Slytherin, but Terence started laughing at me about being an ignorant colonialist. As if he's ever heard anything about Yang."

"Merlin?" Sakura asked. "Is this for History of Magic?"

"Yeah. How does he even read these scrolls anyway?" Syaoran asked.

"Professor Binns is probably a poltergeist who's afraid of being associated with Peeves, so he's passing as a ghost to avoid any discrimination," Luna chimed in, startling Sakura. She had forgotten that Luna was still there. Luna was now staring at the group over the top of her folded copy of the Quibbler.

"That explains it. That must be how he does it," Lisa said with a completely straight face while nodding.

"That explains what?" Gloria asked, taking a seat next to Syaoran and helping herself to a scone. Her presence at the Ravenclaw table was so common as to now be utterly unremarked upon, even when the Gryffindor table wasn't half-empty for breakfast.

"Apparently Luna thinks that Professor Binns is afraid of discrimination but is really a poltergeist," Sakura said halfheartedly.

"I see," Gloria said without much reaction. Much like the other three, Gloria had learned to take any of Luna's speculations with more than a grain of salt.

"Come on. We were talking about Merlin, not Binns. It's not like I'll be able to write my report on the professor," Syaoran said, protesting the derailment of his request for help.

Sakura could sympathize with her boyfriend. She had been in a very similar situation the previous year. She suggested, "Have you tried asking Grey Lady?"

"Grey Lady? You mean that ghost that's always in the library?" Syaoran asked.

"Yes," Sakura confirmed.

"Why would I ask her?" Syaoran asked.

"She's very nice. She helped me with that report last year," Sakura explained.

"I doubt it'll do much good. She never talks to anybody besides the Ravenclaws," Gloria said.

"Yeah. I tried talking to her a few times, but she just ignored me," Syaoran said.

"Really?" Lisa asked.

"Really," Syaoran and Gloria confirmed.

"That's strange. She's always nice to me," Sakura said. "That's okay, Syaoran-kun. I can show you the book that she showed me last year. It made writing that report really easy."

"Thanks," Syaoran said.

A flutter of wings filled the air at this point, causing everybody to look up. Even after seeing it so many times before, and even with the diminished number of students in the Great Hall, the rush of all the owls flying in from the ceiling to deliver their packages still was quite a sight to behold. There was always a hope that one of those owls might be destined for their table too, not that Sakura would ever be subject to that kind of happy surprise. Kaho or Keroberos would rather hand-deliver her her packages than try to fly through the ceiling of the Great Hall.

As usual, Gloria's gray owl swooped down, unerringly locating and flying straight towards the Gryffindor girl. When it got to near head-level, but not low enough to actually risk hitting anybody even if they abruptly stood up, it deftly dropped the paper it held in its talons to the table below. It seemed like there were no other packages as it swooped in a half circle and started flying back up. Meanwhile, the copy of the Daily Tale landed with a satisfying thwack on the table and flopped open revealing the front page.

Gloria picked up the paper, which had the headline, "Housing Spikes After Disastrous Muggle Outreach!"

"The Daily Tale?" Luna observed. "They have some good reporters there, but the editors make sure they don't investigate any of the real causes of housing prices. My dad thinks they're actually being paid by the Zurich Gnomes."

"Oh, I see," Gloria said absentmindedly, still scanning the articles below the fold of her paper. "I suppose the Quibbler is the only real source of news."

"Not the only source, but one of the better ones," Luna said.

A few weeks ago she had gotten into a discussion with Luna about whether she and her father actually believed the things that were printed in the Quibbler. The only results of that discussion had been a series of headaches from Gloria, Sakura, Syaoran, and everybody else who was privy to it. Since that conversation, Gloria just kind of listened to what Luna said without paying too much attention to it, not unlike how all of the others treated her.

Actually, now that she thought about it, Sakura wondered where Luna got her copies of the Quibbler. She always seemed to have them at breakfast before the morning owl delivery.

"Of course it is," Gloria said sarcastically. The tone was clear, although her response seemed to satisfy Luna despite that. "Oh, what are all of you planning on doing after classes today?"

"I'm going to search for a radish. It's been far too long," Luna said.

"Hoe? Couldn't you just go to the kitchen for one?" Sakura asked.

"Exactly," Luna answered. Everybody paused to digest Luna's non-answer as she sliced off another piece of pancake and ate it.

Sakura looked to both Syaoran and Gloria in confusion, but they looked just as baffled as she did. Once again, Luna had somehow terminated a conversation thread with an incomprehensible statement. The follow-up questions were obvious, but asking any of them was dangerous, considering nobody knew where any of them might lead.

Gloria didn't take the opening, and instead pressed the conversation on, asking Sakura and Syaoran, "How about you two? What are you planning?"

Syaoran answered first, saying, "I don't know. There's not very much to do around here."

Sakura answered, "I have a meeting with Professor Dumbledore."

"The headmaster?" Gloria interrupted. "Even I've never had to see him yet. What'd you do?"

"Hoe?" Sakura asked. "No. I arranged it. I want to ask him what he knows about Clow."

It had been a real pain to arrange, too. Apparently the head of the Ravenclaw house was a bit reluctant to bother the headmaster with the requests of a student. Between that and the general busyness of Professor Dumbledore, she hadn't been able to schedule anything until this point. Truth be told, she was more than a bit nervous for the upcoming meeting.

"Clow? What is a Clow?" Lisa asked.

"Clow Reed. He's the one who made..." Sakura said. She then noticed Luna. The girl looked to be preoccupied reading some article or another in her paper, but it was always hard to tell with Luna. Sakura continued, "... some stuff. He's somebody important that I want to find out more about."

Syaoran, Lisa, and Gloria all nodded in understanding. Luna nodded too, for some reason.

"What makes you think he knows anything about him?" Syaoran asked.

"He told me that Clow used to be a professor here," Sakura answered.

"Oh, I see," Gloria said.

"Can I come too?" Syaoran asked.

"Sure," Sakura said. "After that, I was thinking of going to the library. I want to find that book for you, Syaoran-kun, and talk to Grey Lady. After that I think I'm going to go experiment with my skates."

"Again with these mysterious skate experiments?" Gloria asked. At this, Luna looked up towards Sakura again, but didn't say anything.

"Hoe? They aren't that mysterious. You can come watch if you want to, but it might be kind of boring," Sakura offered.

"Not today. I have Quidditch practice," Gloria answered.

"How is that going?" Lisa asked.

"Angela and the others get the lion's share of the practice, seeing how the rest of us are just reserves, but it's still fun. We might get a chance to play if one of them gets hurt, and the practice will put us ahead for next year's tryouts," Gloria said.

The meal quickly finished with inconsequential smalltalk after that, only made notable by Luna's occasional interjection with some random comment seemingly unrelated to the topic at hand. They finished with plenty of time for Sakura to reach the Transfiguration class which was the start of her day.

* * *

"I expect a foot from each of you on the dangers of handling Flobberworm Mucus, and they are to be completed by Wednesday," Professor Snape announced to the class at large after he had used his wand to whisk away the large mess covering one of the Ravenclaw tables.

"But that's not fair. It was a Ravenclaw who caused the mess," Susan, one of the Hufflepuff girls with long red hair, protested.

"Shall I make it two feet for Hufflepuff, Bones?" Professor Snape said in his characteristic mocking voice.

"No, sir," Susan capitulated in the face of Professor Snape's threat. This signaled the end of an eventful, and awkward, Potions class.

Michael's unfortunate accident with Flobberworm Mucas had caused quite the mess, but it was more than that. Sakura found potions class to be somewhat uncomfortable even when things went smoothly. She still hadn't decided whether she should take Professor Snape up on his offer for extra tutelage. While he hadn't visibly pressed the issue, Sakura still found going to the Potions classroom and seeing Professor Snape to be somewhat discomforting. She would need to make a decision soon.

It was still better than most of her other classes. History of Magic was just as boring as her first-year. She still learned absolutely nothing of value that she could tell there. Unlike her first-year, Defense Against the Dark Arts was also a new-found hassle. Sakura couldn't find any meaning in the endless storytelling Professor Lockhart always went into each class despite how much Lisa and Gloria, and to a lesser extent Anthony, waxed poetic about them and him.

Both of those were better than Charms class, which Sakura honestly dreaded going to. Whenever she tried to do things the way Professor Flitwick absolutely insisted, she never could get them to work quite right; and whenever she deviated to what felt like a more natural way, Professor Flitwick would be there to scold her.

Once Sakura and the other Ravenclaw students had finished packing, they said their customary goodbyes to the Hufflepuff students. The Hufflepuff students seemed a bit more put-off and resentful of the Ravenclaw students after Potions class than usual, but that didn't stop the Ravenclaws from saying their farewells. They then headed up to Ravenclaw Tower. When they reached the entrance door with its infamous riddles, the boy who happened to be in the front was forced to answer a complicated question about the causes of the Battle of Botany Bay before the group was allowed admittance to their dorm rooms.

It was last stop of the day, and the last time where the second-year Ravenclaw students would act as a single collective group until the first class the following morning. Once they were inside, the boys and the girls separated to their respective rooms, and everybody fragmented into their individual friendships and cliques for the evening.

Sakura was running a bit later than she would have liked, but wasn't actually late yet. As she dug around her trunk for her skates, she asked, "Kero-chan, are you coming?"

"That depends. What're you planning?" Keroberos asked in return, flying up from Sakura's desk and hovering over her shoulders.

"I have a meeting with Professor Dumbledore. I'm going to ask him about Clow. After that, probably the library, then these, Sakura answered, holding up her retrieved skates and her books.

"Sure, I'm in," Keroberos agreed. He then followed through, more literally than most, and flew into one of Sakura's pockets for the ride.

Her things gathered, Sakura left her dorm room and returned to the Ravenclaw common room. As she drew near, Su called out to her, "Hey, Sakura. Where are you off to?"

"The headmaster's office," Sakura called back, thankful for that particular destination.

"Shoot. Never mind. Good luck," Su answered back.

Ever since it had become known to Ravenclaw that Peeves avoided Sakura, Sakura's life had become somewhat more complicated. It seemed half the time she left to go somewhere there would be some other students who would want to tag along as well, and she didn't have the heart to say no. It wasn't too bad yet, and once she even got to play the hero when she managed to rescue a stolen quill from Peeves, to the relief of a very thankful first-year student.

If she was going somewhere like the library, she was sure that she'd have been delayed for at least 10 minutes while various people heard, retrieved their things, and then joined. That was only for popular destinations like the library, though. It was extremely doubtful people would want to go to Professor Dumbledore's office, and she didn't have time to wait for them even if they did.

The only other person to call out to her was Richard, when she neared the exit of the Ravenclaw common room, but he likewise lost interest when Sakura announced her destination. This allowed her to exit the room with only minimal delays.

Upon opening the door, she came face to face with Luna.

"There. I knew you'd get it eventually," Luna said, staring straight at Sakura.

"Hoe?" Sakura asked, looking behind her to see if she was missing something before turning back to Luna. "Get what?"

"Not you, Sakura. The door," Luna said.

"The door?" Sakura asked, still feeling one step behind the ethereal girl.

"Yes. I was explaining how the London Purge started at 7:53 in the morning," Luna said. She nodded to herself.

"I see. Thanks," Sakura said, quickly pushing that particular fact out of mind and hurried past Luna.

Sakura made her way through the long and winding corridors heading for the Slytherin dorms. She was to meet Syaoran there before going to Professor Dumbledore's office. Her concern for punctuality made the moving stairs feel interminably annoying. She was tempted to just jump down and check her fall using The Fly, but refrained.

It was only when she was in the basement, nearing the Slytherin dorms, that she heard the voice of Giles call out, "Hey, Sakura! Wait up!"

She slowed down a bit, letting Giles catch up to her. He then told her, "Syaoran wanted me to tell you that he can't join you right now. He got detention with Professor Flitwick."

"Hoe?" Sakura asked, immediately feeling sympathies for her boyfriend. "What happened?"

"He blew up a desk," Giles said. "You had to see it. It was totally wicked."

"Okay," Sakura said, unconvinced how much she really would have wanted to see it.

"Anyway, he's got detention for an hour. He said he'd be in the greenhouses after that, if you want to find him before dinner," Giles added.

"Thanks for telling me," Sakura said. "Sorry, but I need to go. I'm supposed to see Professor Dumbledore."

"Whew, both of you in one day. What are the chances? Well, good luck," Giles said.

"Thanks," Sakura said, turning around and heading back to the staircases. Seeing how little time she had spent exploring this particular area of Hogwarts castle she was stuck using the moving staircases to get around, no matter how insufferably slow they were.

Despite her worries, she managed to reach the gargoyle protecting the headmaster's office just in time for her appointment.

Nothing was there, excepting an exceptionally large and ugly stone gargoyle. Bereft of anything else to do, and somewhat accustomed to the strange aspects of magic all around the castle, she hesitantly said the password that Professor Flitwick had told her.

The gargoyle immediately sprang to life and jumped to the side. Meanwhile the stonework behind it split in two, which revealed a spiral staircase leading upward. The stairs themselves were moving upward as well, not unlike an escalator. Sakura barely hesitated before she stepped aboard.

The stairs took her higher and higher. As she wasn't actually walking she found it hard to judge how high she had traveled, but it must have been a fair distance. She eventually came to a stop in front of a large wooden door. It had a large brass knocker in the shape of a griffin, reminding her of the knocker on the front of the Ravenclaw common room. She knocked loudly, prepared to answer some esoteric question to gain entrance.

Instead the door simply pulled open, revealing a spacious but surprisingly homely room behind. It was cluttered just enough to make the room seem inviting and charming, rather than a sterile and foreboding office. There was a cage with a mottled bird in the corner, several stacks of books here and there, and various magical looking containers and devices scattered on the various surfaces around the room. It gave the impression that a real person lived there, and that person just didn't care for putting on appearances.

"Ahh, Sakura," Professor Dumbledore greeted, once again correctly accenting her name as only he, Keroberos, and Syaoran did in this country. "Filius had said you wanted to speak with me. It's unusual for a student to actively seek out a headmaster. How can I help you? Is there something wrong with one of your teachers?"

"No. Nothing like that," Sakura said. The question brought forward thoughts of Professor Flitwick, but she wasn't sure she wanted to mention it to the headmaster. That wasn't what brought her here anyway. "I just wanted to ask you something."

"Of course. Our job is to answer all of your questions, after all," Professor Dumbledore said.

"Last year you mentioned you knew Clow, right?" Sakura asked.

"Clow?" Professor Dumbledore asked back.

"Yes," Sakura answered. "Clow Reed. You said he was a professor here."

"Did I say that?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

"Yeah, you did. Right before the end of the year," Keroberos confirmed.

"Please. What can you tell me about him," Sakura said.

"I see," Professor Dumbledore said thoughtfully. "He disappeared quite some time ago. Why are you so interested?"

"I heard of him somewhere. I'm just curious," Sakura said evasively. She just knew from that same conversation the previous year that Professor Dumbledore already knew about her and the cards, but she also preferred to maintain the fiction that it was a secret. It was just easier that way.

"Is that it?" Professor Dumbledore asked, looking carefully at Sakura.

Sakura naturally looked at the ground in shyness, avoiding Professor Dumbledore's piercing gaze. She answered, "Yes."

"Okay," Professor Dumbledore relented. "Well, I'm afraid to say that I really can't tell you that much."

"What? Why not?" Keroberos asked.

"Don't get me wrong. I'll be happy to tell you everything I know, but there's really not much to say," Professor Dumbledore said, leaning back in his chair. "He was the Herbology professor here when I was a student. A very unorthodox one. If he had also been a student I've no doubt that he would have been in Ravenclaw, no matter how valiant he was in trying to fight traditions. He was always trying to learn new things and challenging ideas that 'everybody knew.' Almost everybody called him or his ideas looney at some point or another, but he was brilliant. More than a bit callous at times as well. All of the other teachers hated him, and especially the headmaster. They always butted heads, and if it was big enough for us students to see it, I can only imagine what happened behind closed doors. The only other other thing I know of was that he was working on some big project of some kind to combine Eastern and Western magic. I don't know whatever happened with that. After he left, all the professors used to laugh at that particular exercise of folly. Seeing how it was Professor Reed, though, I've no doubt that he succeeded."

Keroberos nodded as Professor Dumbledore spoke.

"That's all you know?" Sakura asked. She had been hoping for more, somehow, although she wasn't sure what. Maybe his history, or what he did in his spare time, or who he associated with, or if he had any pets, or where he came from, or how he had come to Hogwarts, or how he had left, or something.

"I'm sorry. Like I said, I don't really know that much about him. He was one of the most memorable professor I ever had, but he was still a professor. Keep in mind I was a student, much like yourself. How much do you really know about your professors?" Professor Dumbledore asked back.

"I know Professor Mizuki," Sakura confidently answered. "She teaches Muggle Studies, and she's the daughter of a priest. Her favorite color is lavender. She used to live in Japan, but moved to England to be with somebody. She likes milk tea, and used to date my brother. Her magic's really strong, too."

Sakura knew much more from the frequent discussions and meetings she had had with Kaho over the years, but she thought she had made her point.

"That's impressive, Sakura. It's very unusual for a student to know so much about a professor. Still, you have to consider that while I liked Professor Reed, he and I didn't share the same... remarkable past that you and Professor Mizuki have," Professor Dumbledore said. "What about a different professor, such as Severus or Minerva?"

Sakura thought, but she didn't know anybody by either of those names. "Who are they?" she asked.

Professor Dumbledore gave her a pointed look, then said, "That's Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall."

Sakura thought about that, and what Professor Dumbledore meant struck home. She didn't know very much at all of either of them. She knew Professor McGonagall was the teacher of Transfigurations, was one of the more serious and strict professors, was the head of the Gryffindor house, and was always available to get help whenever she needed it. She didn't know much more about Professor Snape either. She hadn't even known either of their full names until just a moment ago.

And those two were two of her more favorite professors too.

"I see what you mean," Sakura said, admitting defeat. In that light, that Professor Dumbledore had known so much about Clow was rather impressive.

Sakura didn't know much about any of her professors, and now that that gap of knowledge had been pointed out, she didn't like it one bit. She would need to make it a point to try to learn a bit more about them, and the other professors around the school. Talking to Professor Dumbledore had opened her eyes in that regard.

Another thought struck her, and Sakura asked, "Actually, there is one other thing I wanted to ask you about." She had asked Kaho already, not to mention Syaoran and the others, but more advice couldn't hurt.

"Yes?" Professor Dumbledore prompted her.

"Professor Snape offered to give me some private Potions lessons," Sakura started explaining.

"He did?" Professor Dumbledore asked. His eyes raised at the comment. "That's very unusual."

"It is?" Sakura asked.

"Yes. Professor Snape is very exacting and he doesn't suffer fools or waste his time frivolously. If he offered to tutor you then you must have done something to catch his eye," Professor Dumbledore said.

The declaration made Sakura feel especially bad. She knew the Professor Snape was terse, but hearing how this offer was so unique made her decision to turn it down feel that much worse. She was original going to ask the best way to decline the offer, but with Professor Dumbledore's statement, she changed her question to, "I was going to turn him down. Is that a terrible idea?"

"That depends. Why are you turning him down?" Professor Dumbledore asked.

"I don't think I'll have time to spend on only studying Potions. There's too many other things going on I want to do," Sakura said. Her reasoning sounded quite pathetic when she said it out loud.

"I have no doubt that you would learn a great deal under Professor Snape, but if there's no time, there's no time. It's no use brooding over the impossible, no matter how enticing it might be," Professor Dumbledore said. He had a far away look in his eye while he said this, despite looking at Sakura.

"Okay," Sakura said. She continued by asking her originally intended question of, "How do you think I should tell him?"

Professor Dumbledore's eyes regained the focus from before. He said, "Just be honest with him. I'm sure it'll work itself out alright."

"Okay," Sakura agreed. "Thank you for your time, Professor Dumbledore."

"Good evening, Sakura. Keroberos," Professor Dumbledore answered, addressing both of them.

"See you later," Keroberos said back.

More than slightly disappointed with the lack of details she had received from Professor Dumbledore, both about Clow and about how to tactfully decline Professor Snape's offer, Sakura turned and left the headmaster's office. The next stop was the library.

The more pressing issue there was to ask what had happened between Grey Lady and Syaoran. In addition, any assistance Grey Lady could provide in locate that short biography of Merlin would be greatly appreciated. Sakura could find the book herself, but it was much easier to enlist the aid of that particularly friendly ghost. Grey Lady always seemed to know everything that happened in the library.

In the library, Sakura let her gaze drift up, checking for the ghost most frequently associated with Ravenclaw house. It really was a bit of roulette as to where Grey Lady would be at any given moment. She could be floating in the air trying to find something to do, or reading over the shoulder of some patron in the library, or socializing with some students about whatever gossip happened to be the talk of the school at the moment.

Luck favored Sakura today as she spotted Grey Lady hovering in the middle of the room. She had the characteristic look on her face of trying to find something to do. Sakura started to walk to the woman, sure that Grey Lady would both notice and welcome the diversion. She was not disappointed.

"Sakura. How charming to see you. You were just the person I was looking for," Grey Lady welcomed her in a semi-loud whisper. It was enough to draw a glare from Madam Pince at the side of the room, but not enough to actually draw one of her all too common shushes.

"Hello Grey Lady. You were looking for me?" Sakura answered back.

"Yes. You were the one looking for that book on enchantments, were you not?" Grey Lady asked.

It took Sakura a second before she remembered. She had asked Grey Lady a week or two ago about enchantment books, and Grey Lady had deferred comment saying she wanted to think about it. Sakura answered, "That's right. Did you figure out a good book?"

"I think so. It was quite the challenge, but I think I figured out the most basic book on the difficult subject. It's this way," Grey Lady said, already starting to float down one of the stacks of shelves. Sakura followed shortly behind Grey Lady, giving as much space as if Grey Lady had been a living person. Not only was it a matter of respect, it gave Sakura quite the chilling jolt whenever the hair or clothing of Grey Lady happened to drift through her.

She drew to a stop at a shelf, pointing at a book titled "One Enchanted Evening."

"Thanks," Sakura said, picking up the book. She continued, "I could use some help finding another book as well, if you have the time."

"Time is one thing we ghosts have in spades," Grey Lady answered. "How may I help you?"

"Do you know where that book on Merlin you showed me last year is?" Sakura asked.

"I believe I do. Are you planning on writing another report? I thought Professor Binns only had the first-year students write that," Grey Lady said. She flew over Sakura and started leading Sakura back the way they had come.

"It's not for me. I'm trying to help my boyfriend. He's a first-year, and Professor Binns is having them write that report on Merlin again," Sakura answered.

"A boyfriend? How lovely," Grey Lady said, slowing and turning to face Sakura as she spoke. "You simply must introduce him to me some time. I'd love meeting him."

"You would?" Sakura asked, confused. "He said he tried to talk to you earlier, but that you didn't like non-Ravenclaw students."

Grey Lady stopped short, and turned to directly face Sakura. It was so fast and so unexpected that Sakura almost crashed through her before managing to stop herself. Grey Lady looked very concerned as she asked, "He's not in Ravenclaw?"

"No. He got sorted into Slytherin," Sakura answered. The reminder of that particular development brought a familiar wave of sorrow to Sakura. She still managed to spend a fair amount of time with Syaoran despite him being in a different house, but he was still in a different house.

Grey Lady gasped. The already supernaturally pale ghost managed to pale even more and looked aghast. She said, "You need to be careful of those people in other houses, especially Slytherin."

"Why? What's wrong?" Sakura asked.

"They can be... very charming... They always... in the end..." Grey Lady stammered out in fragments. The normally equipoise woman looked far more disturbed than Sakura had ever seen her before.

"Syaoran-kun would never do that," Sakura insisted.

"I... I need to go..." Grey Lady said. Then without waiting for an answer, she floated up and away.

"Grey Lady!" Sakura called out, but not too loudly seeing how they were still in the library. Grey Lady didn't respond, although Madam Pince still shushed her for her efforts.

"What was that about?" Keroberos asked.

"No idea," Sakura answered. She was sure Grey Lady would like Syaoran if she ever got to know him, but wasn't sure getting them together was that good an idea given this recent reaction. Maybe it was just like Gloria said. Maybe Grey Lady just didn't like non-Ravenclaw students. However, Sakura couldn't help but feel there was more going on here than met the eye. Sakura wanted to find out what it was, but also didn't want to offend her ghostly friend. She would need to tread carefully.

Even if she didn't have an explanation why, she at least knew there was something going on with Grey Lady and Syaoran. She could also address the secondary reason she had come to the library. She told Keroberos, "Anyway, let's find that book."

"Grey Lady was leading us this way before she freaked out. It's probably around here somewhere," Keroberos suggested.

"Good idea. Can you help me find it?" Sakura asked.

Even with the narrowed search area, it still took Sakura and Keroberos a fair bit of time to locate the thin book she had used the previous year for her essay on Merlin. Keroberos spotted it first on the top shelf, and pulled it out before delivering it to Sakura.

With her two books in hand and Grey Lady gone for some unknown reason, there was no real reason to stay around the library anymore. She borrowed the book on Merlin for Syaoran and took it with her in search of the greenhouses.

It was easy to find Syaoran in Greenhouse One, where the majority of first-year Herbology classes were taught. He was hunched over a caterpillar stalk. His copy of "One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi" sat open right beside him. He looked back and forth between the plant and the book, and then stroked the back of the plant. As expected, this caused the tip of the plant curled up into a tight ball and then drop onto the ground. Syaoran re-examined the book, and then picked up the ball and put it to the side. He repeated the action a second time, placing a second ball next to the first.

"I heard about your detention. Sorry," Sakura said.

Syaoran started slightly, looked up, and said, "Don't be. Professor Flitwick is just a berk obsessed with tradition who can't admit when he's wrong."

Sakura couldn't honestly say she agreed with that assessment. She honestly couldn't say she disagreed with that assessment either. She had butted heads with her head of house enough times in the past. She decided to take the safe path and refrained from commenting. She instead asked, "What are you doing?"

"I'm just getting some seeds and cuttings to take back to Hong Kong," Syaoran answered.

"Are you even allowed to do that, kid?" Keroberos asked.

"Why not? Nobody said not to," Syaoran answered back. He picked up the first two balls he had taken, plus a third, and put all three into a small plastic bag.

Sakura really couldn't think of anything to say to that, especially with a plant as harmless as a caterpillar stalk. So she changed the subject. She said, "I found that book I was talking about."

"You did? Thanks. This'll help out a lot," Syaoran said. "Did you figure out what was with Grey Lady?"

"No, I didn't. I tried asking, but she didn't say anything," Sakura said.

"She got all funny when she heard you weren't in Ravenclaw, and then even worse when she found out you were in Slytherin," Keroberos added.

"Great. Probably just another Slytherin hater. It seems like the school's full of them," Syaoran said.

Another one? That meant there were more of them? Sakura asked, "Is it really that bad?"

"There are a few, but most aren't that bad. Just a couple," Syaoran said.

"Sorry," Sakura said. She had assumed that Syaoran's time in Hogwarts would have been as good as her own. All of this just because he got sorted into Slytherin. She felt a bit guilty for Syaoran's even being in Hogwarts in the first place.

"It's fine," Syaoran insisted. He picked up his book, climbed back to his feet, and dusted his knees off. "Well, I'm all set for now. Should we go find a place to try out your skates again?"

"Sure. I got a book on enchantments too, this time," Sakura said.

Syaoran led Sakura and Keroberos out of the warm greenhouse and into the chilly October air. The three of them then proceeded down the corridors of Hogwarts, trying to locate an empty classroom. They walked a fair distance before even bothering to check if any rooms were empty. Sakura wanted to locate a room which was a bit more out of the way. There wasn't any way to perfectly guarantee their privacy, but there were enough quiet corners of the giant castle that an out-of-the-way room would be a reasonable hedge against anybody stumbling across their experiments.

They eventually landed in a quiet room on what seemed to be the third floor of the building. Sakura was relatively sure it was the third floor, but with the strange layout of Hogwarts, it was sometimes hard to be certain without a window to check through.

"So, what first?" Syaoran asked.

Sakura pulled out the copy of "One Enchanted Evening" and opened the cover.

She wasn't sure what she had been expecting. Possibly something like a textbook. Whatever Sakura had been expecting, though, this book was not it. There was no table of contents. There was no introduction. There wasn't even a title page. The very first page just started by saying to simmer some inkburst mushrooms in a bottle of spirits.

"Hoe?" Sakura asked. "What is this?"

"It looks like instructions," Keroberos said, hovering over her shoulder.

"What's the instructions for?" Syaoran asked.

"I don't know. It doesn't say," Sakura said. She flipped forward a page, and then another, and then another. When she saw a line later in the section describing one of the objects for the enchantment, she suggested, "Maybe something for silverware?"

"Great. That doesn't help out at all," Syaoran said.

"Do you want to take a look?" Sakura suggested.

"Sure," Syaoran said, taking the book. He flipped through several pages, and then handed it back to Sakura, saying, "That book's terrible. It doesn't label anything, and it doesn't even have an ingredient list at the start of each section."

"Sounds pretty normal," Keroberos said. "Clow was always complaining about that, not that he did any better himself whenever he bothered to write anything down."

They spent the next hour slowly flipping through the book, trying to find anything which might pertain to skates or making objects fly. About two-thirds through the book, Sakura found something which referred to a carriage. It didn't seem the most appropriate, but all three of them were getting tired trying to glean understanding from the slightly-hard-to-read script. A carriage was a vehicle, and skates were a type of vehicle as well. It was better than anything else they had tried so far.

"Let's try this one," Sakura suggested.

"Sure," Syaoran agreed.

Reading off the page, Sakura said, "It says 'disintegrate the gems of red fire and embroil their ashes twixt the frost of blue.'"

The room was silent for a few seconds, before Syaoran asked, "What?"

"I don't know. It's just what it says here," Sakura said, pointing to the book.

"I don't know if it'll help, but sometimes Clow would crush up a bunch of gems together when trying to make magic stuff. That thing about red fire was talking about gems, right? And talking about embroiling their ashes with something," Keroberos said.

"It's as good a thing to try as anything," Syaoran said. "I'll say it again. This book's terrible."

"Okay. But how are we supposed to get the gems, then?" Sakura asked.

"Can't you use The Create or something?" Keroberos suggested.

"I guess. We just need some red gems, right?" Sakura asked. She pulled out the Key and after one summoning with The Create later, they had a small pile of rubies in front of her. "Now how do we 'disintegrate' them?"

"And what was that about blue frost or something?" Syaoran asked.

"Got me, kid," Keroberos said.

"So what do we do now?" Sakura asked.

"Well, the thing did say something about blue frost, right? Stand back," Syaoran said. He drew his jian, and then cast a spell at the small pile of stones, smothering them with a blast of magical ice.

Sakura picked up one of the rubies using the tips of her fingers. Other than being extremely cold in her hand, it didn't really feel any different than before. She put the gem back down and asked, "What about that disintegration part?"

"Maybe we're supposed to just break them into pieces or something," Keroberos offered.

"How?" Sakura asked.

The group fell silent, looking around the room for anything which could be used for the task.

After several seconds of this, Syaoran asked, "We're stuck on the first sentence. How much more is there?"

Sakura turned back to the book to check. She flipped the page, and then another, and then another, before giving up. She answered, "A lot."

"This is useless. We're getting nowhere," Keroberos observed.

"Well, what else do you suggest?" Syaoran asked back.

"Well I had been trying to make some new cards way back when modeling them after the Sakura Cards," Sakura offered.

"Hmm... Seems more practical than this garbage," Syaoran said, slamming the book shut dismissively. "Why don't you take out The Fly and we can take a look at that?"

"Okay," Sakura agreed, pulling out The Fly and placing it on the table.

"Too bad Eriol's disappeared. He could probably make this real easy for us," Syaoran said.

"Nah. Sakura tried asking him before. He wouldn't tell us anything about the cards. He said Sakura should learn on her own," Keroberos said.

"Then what are we supposed to do first?" Syaoran asked.

"I don't know," Sakura answered back.

She wasn't sure how she'd approach it. In fact there was only one thing she was certain of. If she was going to somehow make it so her skates could float in the air, it was definitely not something she would be able to solve in a single day.

* * *

Last Updated: September 26, 2013


	8. 8: Sakura and the Ominous Sign

Chapter 8: Sakura and the Ominous Sign

The coldness of Ravenclaw Tower surrounded Sakura making it was an extra luxury to hide under her warm blankets for just a bit longer, embraced by her comfortable blankets. Winter was still months away, but the recent weather in Scotland could have convinced her that it was the middle of February already. It was so tempting to just spend the whole day here.

As her brain woke up her mood commensurately fouled. She quickly remembered the facts of reality, including all of her worries and the things which she needed to do. Foremost of those was her decision to Professor Snape. It was long overdue, but she wasn't looking forward to officially telling him. It weighed heavily on her mind.

There was a resplendent Halloween celebration planned for the evening, but if anything that only made things worse. It meant that she wouldn't be able to have dinner with Syaoran today. Breakfast and lunch would have to suffice.

All together, it had the makings of being a very important yet very dismal day.

* * *

"Hey Sakura. W..where are you headed?" Anthony asked her as she was heading out the door of the Ravenclaw common room.

"I'm going to Professor Snape's office," Sakura asked.

"That goes by the library, right?" Anthony asked, looking distinctly nervous for some odd reason. "D..do you mind if.. if I come with you? There's something I.. I want to talk to you. About."

"Sure," Sakura answered. She wondered about the stammering.

The familiar path towards the library was well known to everybody in the house. It only took a couple of minutes to walk there.

"Is everything okay, Anthony?" Sakura asked as they neared the library. Anthony had been quiet throughout the walk and he seemed troubled by something.

"Yeah," Anthony said back. He didn't elaborate for a few seconds. He then abruptly cut in, "Sakura, I was wondering. You know. What do you think... I mean... do you have anything planned tomorrow?"

"Not really," Sakura answered. Nothing special planned. Just whatever she and Syaoran and whoever else joined wanted to do.

"Do you want to... I don't know... play some cards or something?" Anthony offered.

"Sure. That might be fun," Sakura said. "I'll ask Syaoran-kun what he thinks. And Gloria and Lisa. She can get Wayne."

"No, I meant just the two of us," Anthony said.

"Just us two?" Sakura asked. She didn't get it. Cards were more fun if there were more people.

"Yeah. I was thinking... I was wondering... if you ever..." Anthony started. Before he could finish, a large crowd appeared from the direction of the library. Anthony trailed off, looking both somewhat disappointed and somewhat relieved.

In the lead of the diverse crowd was Syaoran. He had his sword out and looked ready to decapitate somebody with it. Behind him were students from all of the houses. The majority of them were from Slytherin, not that Sakura really recognized any of them besides Giles and Roger. However, there were numerous Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw colors in the mix as well. Most conspicuous among them to Sakura's eyes were Gloria, Wayne, and Lisa.

Sakura glanced back towards Anthony, but it seemed like whatever he had been trying to say was now over. She put it out of her mind and ran forward to get closer to Syaoran. She called out, "Syaoran-kun!"

"Hey," Syaoran called out as well. His voice tried to be welcoming, but it still carried a heavy tone of anger.

"Hoe? What's wrong?" Sakura asked. Hopefully Syaoran wasn't upset at her for some reason. She thought back. Had she done something wrong?

"Peeves stole my wand," Syaoran said, getting visibly angrier. "I'm going to get it back and deal with him once and for all. Back in Hong Kong, we know how to deal with pesky spirits."

"Ehhh?" the familiar voice of one of the Weasley twins remarked. It was as if he had come of nowhere, appearing right next to Syaoran and Sakura. He was carrying a large and lumpy sack. "What do we have here?"

"George!" Gloria called out, pointing at him.

"Fred," the other twin said, sending a sidelong glance towards Gloria over the large box he carried, "didn't you hear? It seems like this little firstie is going to show Peeves who's boss."

"I did hear," Fred answered back, in a stage whisper. "Look at that sword. Wicked. Think he's going try to cut him up?"

"It should be entertaining, no matter what happens," George whispered back. Then in a more normal voice, he said, "Good luck, little Slytherin."

"You're going to need it," Fred added as an aside.

"Whatever," Syaoran said in response to the twins' antics. Then turning to Sakura, he said, "Sorry, but I should get going. I want to find Peeves before dinner."

"That's okay. Good luck," Sakura answered back. She wanted to go too, but she knew there was no chance of Syaoran actually being able to confront Peeves if she were around. "Let me know what happens."

"I will," Syaoran assured her, and then walked past. The large group followed just behind.

The two Weasley twins had abandoned whatever plans they had in mind and turned to follow Syaoran too, as did Anthony.

Now bereft of company, Sakura continued on her path towards Professor Snape's office. Due to the Halloween celebration, she was sure he would be around despite it being the weekend. He had groused about it in class at some point.

Sakura ended up dodging through a side passage between two classrooms as a shortcut and made fast time to Professor Snape's room. The door there ajar, but she knocked on it anyway to politely inform him of her arrival as she poked her head in. Inside, Professor Snape sat at his desk. A large stack of scrolls were piled on both sides of him.

Professor Snape looked up at Sakura's knock, then put his quill down and said, "Kinomoto. Come in. What can I do for you?"

"Professor Snape?" Sakura started, not quite sure how she wanted to say what she wanted to say. "I was thinking about your offer. To help teach me about Potions."

"What's your decision?" Professor Snape asked, cutting straight to the point.

"Yes. That is... Well... I'm very flattered... but I don't think I can do it," Sakura said.

Professor Snape's mouth took on quite an interesting look at that. It was either a frown which wanted to be a scowl, or a scowl which wanted to be a frown. Whichever one it was, it wasn't very flattering.

"And why's that?" Professor Snape asked. Accused? Something. It was certainly in a terse voice, and it intimidated Sakura.

"I'm very flattered, but the thing is... I don't think I have the time to. I have a lot of things going on right now, and I don't think I have the time to really spend on this," Sakura repeated. She realized she was babbling from her nerves.

"I see," Professor Snape said. He then took a long sigh. "I'm disappointed. Rarely have I met somebody with your sheer potential, but at least realize exactly how daunting Potions is. Entering into the field with anything less than your full commitment is doomed to failure."

"Yes, sir," Sakura said.

Professor Snape pursed his lips, then said, "Well, there are still six years before you graduate. If your situation changes, I trust you will let me know."

"Yes, sir," Sakura said.

"And you will pursue a N.E.W.T. in Potions," Professor Snape commanded more than asked.

"Yes, sir," Sakura said.

"Very well," Professor Snape said. "Was there anything else you wanted to speak to me about?"

"No, sir," Sakura said. She was eager to get out of the suddenly stifling office. "Happy Halloween."

"Yourself as well," Professor Snape said back.

Once out of Professor Snape's office, Sakura took a deep sigh. She was a bit disappointed in her decision, but she really did have too much going on already. Between spending time with Syaoran, experimenting with her skates, socializing with Kaho and Grey Lady and the others, her occasional exploration or other adventure with Gloria, and her constant studying, she really didn't think she had time to do any serious studies with Professor Snape. Such a contrast from her first year. It was amazing how much having her boyfriend around changed things.

That naturally led her to her next point to tackle for the day. Given the free day, normally there would be some form of indecision about which of the multitude of things she wanted to do that she would do. However, seeing how Syaoran was off trying to find Peeves and how he had taken all of Sakura's closer friends with him, that severely limited her options. She could have tea with Kaho, pass the time with Grey Lady, continue to fruitless experiment with her skates without the benefit of Syaoran's presence, or study. Given how Professor Sprout had given a less-than-subtle hint it might be valuable to brush up on shrivelfig growth patterns, her decision was obvious. There were a few other plants she wanted to study up on as well.

Sakura kept to the main corridors as she made her way back to Ravenclaw Tower. The fact it was a Saturday meant there was no particular rush for anything she did today. She just enjoyed the general ambiance of the Halloween day. Random groups of students were wandering the halls, doing whatever they were doing on this day off. The entire castle was drenched in a festive mood.

The knocker at Ravenclaw Tower posed a devious math puzzle which took Sakura a fair bit of thought to figure out. She still managed to solve it, without the use of parchment and pencil at that. That gave her access to the relatively quiet Ravenclaw common room. Quiet because, even with their stereotypical interest in academics, Halloween still caused many to procrastinate on their homework for just one day.

In fact, the only person she saw in the Ravenclaw common room was Luna. She was mostly dressed for the day, having on her shirt, skirt, and robe. She was standing on a table, completely barefoot, jumping up and down, and doing who knew what. Just being Luna, it would seem.

She knew she would regret it, but her curiosity refused to be quelled. Sakura asked, "Luna?"

Luna looked down at Sakura, revealing her rather upset face. Of course for Luna, a rather upset face only meant she had a bit of a frown, but for the normally untouchable girl that was a lot. She answered, "Sakura. Here to tease me too?"

"Hoe?" Sakura asked.

"My roommates stole my shoes while I was asleep," Luna said. Her voice clearly reflected that she was upset, but not nearly to the extent that Sakura thought appropriate.

"That's terrible," Sakura said, immediately feeling sympathetic for the girl. "Can I help you look for them?"

"I guess," Luna answered. "The other students just said it was probably a Wrackspurt or a nargle. Wrackspurts don't do that, and I've never even heard of a nargle before. I'm sure they were just being mean."

"Why do you say that?" Sakura asked. The question was more for form and to give Luna a chance to explain herself. Sakura had little doubt that the other students were actually teasing her with some invented imaginary thing. She had checked for some of the creatures Luna had referenced in the past, including Wrackspurts, but could find none of them in any book she checked. It wasn't hard to imagine some prankster inventing something new as a crude joke on the girl.

Luna said, "They were laughing at me when they said it."

"Well I'll help you look then," Sakura said emphatically. The change of pace beat more studying in any case. "Where have you checked?"

"I searched my dorm room, and I've been trying to check the top of the bookcases in here. If I were trying to hide my shoes, that's where I'd put them," Luna explained. She then started jumping again. Each jump caused Sakura to briefly panic. Thoughts of the table collapsing under Luna's weight floated through her head, but the table held for the small girl.

"How about I get Kero-chan? He'll be able to check up there a lot easier," Sakura offered.

Luna didn't respond with an affirmative, but she didn't decline either. It was as good as anything Sakura could expect from her, so she hurried back to her dorm room.

"Heya, Sakura. How'd it go?" Keroberos greeted her.

"It went fine," Sakura said. There was really no other word for it. Her meeting with Professor Snape went about as well and about as poorly as she expected it to be. "There's something else, though. Somebody stole Luna's shoes. Can you help us find them?"

"Righty-o," Keroberos said, and flew after Sakura.

When they returned to the common room, Luna was back to jumping on the table. Despite being prepared for what she'd see, it still gave Sakura pause for a second.

Keroberos seemed to grasp the situation immediately. He offered, "How about I check the top of the shelves. It's a lot easier for me."

"Sure," Luna said. She even stopped jumping on the table. That was a good sign.

As Keroberos floated high into the air, Sakura said, "I'll check over here." She walked behind the white marble statue of Rowena Ravenclaw to see if the shoes had been hidden there. They weren't. Nor were they behind the bookcases to either side of it.

This wasn't quite how Sakura had intended to spend her Halloween, but she couldn't in good conscious leave Luna to her own devices as she went off to do something else. While she didn't exactly like Luna, she didn't exactly hate her either, and Sakura knew how terrible she'd feel in Luna's place. And it beat studying shrivelfigs at least.

"I'm going to leave Hogwarts," Luna said abruptly.

"Hoe?" Sakura asked at the sudden declaration. She stopped looking behind the bookshelf and turned to face Luna. "Why do you say that?"

"Everybody here hates me," Luna said as if it were a matter of fact. She was casually pulling out books, opening them, and flipping through the pages as she spoke. It made for the strange disjoint between her actions, her words, and her characteristic ethereal attitude. "It's pretty obvious. Why else would they call me 'Looney?'"

Sakura knew people, including herself, thought Luna was strange. But she hadn't realized how hard Luna had taken it all. Luna never showed any reaction to any of it. Then again, being called names all day couldn't have felt at all good, and Luna's shoes had been stolen. Maybe she was right.

"Don't you have any friends?" Keroberos asked.

"There's one girl in Gryffindor who seemed like she might be nice, but we haven't really talked very much. She's a bit beside herself right now," Luna said.

"Beside herself?" Sakura asked.

"Yes," Luna answered.

"What's that mean? Beside herself in anger?" Keroberos asked.

"No," Luna answered.

When it became clear Luna wouldn't elaborate her non-answer, Sakura gave a lamenting, "Hoe..." She then returned to pulling open some cabinets around the room in self-defense, letting her concrete actions wash away the nonsense Luna was saying.

"That's okay. I'd do better in a more progressive school. Maybe Rotesbell," Luna said. She had fallen to her hands and knees and was searching around the floor.

"You can come with us and do stuff," Sakura offered, cursing herself immediately after the words left her mouth. It was only an offer made out of pity for the friendless girl and she immediately regretted saying it. She then felt bad for feeling bad for making the offer. Seeing how much trouble Luna was having in Hogwarts, it was selfish to think of herself at this time.

"Thanks, but I don't need your pity," Luna said casually. Her blunt statement made Sakura feel guilty for trying to be nice. "What does it really matter if I stay or go? I don't really play a role here. I'm not somebody like Harry. He does stuff and people notice. I'm just like a background character. I doubt anybody outside of Ravenclaw's even heard of me."

Sakura didn't see how somebody who was so prominent in Ravenclaw could think of herself like that, but pointing that out and why she was so well known probably wouldn't help the situation very much. She tried to rally, "It'll matter to you. I was told that Hogwarts is the best school in the country. You shouldn't just give up. You might be wrong about... hoe?"

"What is it?" Keroberos asked, coming down to float over Sakura's shoulder.

"What is it?" Luna asked as well, moving beside Sakura to look at the same bookshelf she was staring at.

On the bookshelf, about eye-level for the girls, was an inconspicuous gap between the books. The only thing drawing attention to it was the small pile of tomes knocked negligently on the ground in front of it. Inside this gap, the thing which had caught Sakura's attention was the presence of a pair of small, feathery, four-legged bird-mouse-like creatures about the size of her hand. Both of them had short round beak-like mouths and prominent pointed ears.

They also had two shoes, wrapped up in their long tails.

Luna gave a gasp, and said, "My shoes. Those must be those nargles. They weren't making it up."

The two creatures startled at Luna's voice and quickly ran down the bookcase, carrying Luna's shoes with them. They skittered across the floor, reached a wall, and quickly climbed out of sight. Throughout that, Luna just watched the pair run off.

"Don't you want to get your shoes back?" Sakura asked once the two creatures had vanished.

"If they need shoes, I can owl my dad for another pair. Maybe I have been too quick to judge. So, what are we going to do today?" Luna said. It flowed like a complete thought, and it took Sakura a second to properly parse the three distinct topics Luna had just remarked upon.

"Hoe..." Sakura said. She wondered exactly what she had gotten herself into.

Sakura had originally intended to study, and the events which transpired did not change that. The only thing that changed was what she would be studying. The presence of these strange creatures piqued her interest, and rather than study her Herbology Sakura wanted to find out what she could about the unknown animals. Especially if they were running around Ravenclaw Tower while she slept. Keroberos and Luna agreed.

They started by searching the Ravenclaw libraries for magical creature books, and then searching those books for reference to those nargles they had just seen. It was slow going, given the lack of organization in the library and the disorganization within the books themselves.

After about two hours of fruitless searching, they migrated to the Hogwarts library. Once there, Sakura introduced Luna to Grey Lady, and they both got along surprisingly well. That was to be the silver lining, though. The corresponding storm cloud was that Grey Lady had not heard of anything called a nargle either, nor did she know of any creature which matched the animal's description. Despite this, she still helped the three of them locate various encyclopedias of magical creatures. None of them contained anything pertinent that Sakura, Keroberos, and Luna could find.

Their search was concluded when the too familiar wave of realization that it was dinner time swept through the library. Keroberos tucked himself hidden in one of Sakura's pocket, and then Sakura and Luna then joined the holiday-sized crowd leaving the library as they proceeded to the Great Hall.

There were sporadic Halloween decorations throughout the stoney corridors they walked through, but it wasn't until they reached the Great Hall itself that the true splendor of the event was revealed. The darkened room was lit only by the flickering of hundreds of candles burning in ornately carved pumpkins. Meanwhile, countless bats flew overhead. It was a fittingly spectacular scene. Only Sakura's memory of the same feast from the previous year kept her from stopping and gawking at the entrance.

Despite the extravagance surrounding her, Sakura would have preferred that this be a more ordinary dinner where she could join Syaoran at either the Ravenclaw or Slytherin table. As it was, she was more looking forward to the end of the meal when she could meet up with him again for whatever they would do for the evening.

Sakura took a quick look around the Ravenclaw table, searching for Lisa or Anthony. The candlelight was romantic, but it also made it a bit hard to see. When she failed to find either of her friends, she took a seat near the end of the table.

Shortly thereafter, a large crowd appeared at the doorway. They were exceedingly chatty and the group had an ambiance of excitement around it. It was easy to spot that this must have been the entourage Syaoran had been leading. From the atmosphere alone, it was obvious that something big had happened.

"You did not tell us that your boyfriend was quite so exceptional," Lisa said as she took a seat next to Sakura. She seemed to be ignoring Luna.

"What, Syaoran-kun?" Sakura asked. Of course it was obvious that Syaoran was amazing, but it was kind of surprising to hear people talk about it point blank.

"Yeah. He's pretty good, I guess," Anthony said as he took the seat on the other side of Lisa. He sounded a bit morose.

"It was amazing. When we found Peeves, he..." Lisa started explaining.

"Wait. Hold it," Sakura interrupted her. She had been prepared for this eventuality. "I'm sorry, but I think I'd rather hear from Syaoran-kun what happened."

It was hard to do. The excitement from Lisa's voice was contagious, not to mention that Sakura was always interested in everything Syaoran did, but she thought she should give her boyfriend the benefit of being able to tell the story to her directly rather than her hearing about it from secondhand sources.

Sakura tried to change the subject, asking, "Have either of you heard of a thing called a nargle before?"

"It's about this big, and it looks like a weird bird-mouse thing with a long tail," Luna helpfully added, trying to describe the creature they both saw.

"No, I haven't," Lisa said slowly, looking towards Sakura with concern.

"I think our dorm has them, and we're trying to find out what they do," Sakura said.

"I think she really is contagious," Anthony said to Lisa, causing both to slightly scoot away from Sakura.

"Hoe..." Sakura lamented.

With that avenue of inquiry shut down, dinner proceeded slowly. It was clear that Lisa and Anthony wanted to do nothing more than talk about Syaoran's latest exploits. This made it hard for Sakura to do anything but wonder what happened. Her curiosity was only added to when she looked over and watched Syaoran at the Slytherin table. As usual, Giles and Roger were sitting next to Syaoran. Less usually, the two first-year boys were talking in an exceptionally animated way, gesticulating wildly at times. In addition there were several other people surrounding Syaoran who Sakura didn't recognize. All of them were doing a very similar motion with their hands, addressing some clearly skeptical older students.

The feast was splendid. It was even better in that it was freshly cooked, not half-cold like the meal the previous year in Ravenclaw Tower had been. Sakura barely tasted any of it. She was instead counting the seconds until dinner ended, when she could find out from Syaoran what had happened. A victory for Syaoran, it seemed. About the only positive aspect of the meal was that it wasn't interrupted by a Professor Quirrel panicking everybody with news of a troll on the loose.

The meal actually never seemed to officially end. Desserts came out, but there wasn't any sort of formal end to the meal. Instead the hall seemed to degenerate into a large party of sorts. Children, mostly the older ones at first, erratically got up from their seats and started mingling in the center of the Great Hall and along the walls. It wasn't clear when the exact transition point occurred, but somehow the Halloween dinner transformed into a giant congenial party.

Sakura took the earliest opportunity to hurry over to the Slytherin table as quickly as she could without giving the appearance of being in an urgent hurry. Despite that she wasn't able to actually get close to Syaoran. He was swarmed by a not insubstantial number of students which prevented her from getting any closer. She might have been able to force her way through the crowd, but the fact she was a Ravenclaw in Slytherin territory, and especially her upbringing in Japan, prevented her from making any such attempt.

It was only when Syaoran caught a glimpse of her through the crowd that he tried to make his way to her. The crowd naturally parted for his movement. When a gap appeared in the group, she heard some unrecognized boy saying, "... fire. I knew this was the best house."

"Sakura-chan!" Syaoran shouted out to her. He was hard to hear over the murmuring of the party. Syaoran then forced his way through the crowd to her.

"Syaoran-kun," Sakura answered when the got close enough to hold his hand. "How did it go?"

"How did it go?" Roger asked from right beside both of them. "It was brilliant. He bloody set Peeves on bloody fire!"

"You killed him? Killed him a second time?" Sakura asked, struggling to figure out the right way to ask the question. "I mean, he's gone?"

"No," Syaoran said, disappointment visible on his lips. "The Weasleys stopped me."

"You should have just ignored them. Bloody Gryffindors," Giles said.

"Why'd they do that?" Sakura asked.

"Beats me. Who knows how those two nutters think?" Syaoran said.

"So, what happened?" Sakura asked.

Syaoran proceeded to spin the tale of his confrontation with Peeves. Peeves's derision. The not insubstantial magic Syaoran did. Peeves's skepticism, followed by pain. The interruption by the Weasley twins trying to stop Syaoran and save the irresponsible prankster poltergeist. Their reminder that Syaoran's wand was still missing and only Peeves knew where it was.

The tale was frequently interrupted by interjections from the classmates all around Syaoran, adding a detail here or a flourish there, or just adding a generic comment about how Slytherin was the best house in the school. It eventually came to a climax when Syaoran showed Sakura his successfully retrieved wand.

The party wasn't over by that point. It was still going strong. If anything, it was actually gaining in momentum. Even after several hours, when the late hour suggested that good little wizards and witches should be heading to their bed, nobody wanted it to end. The whole student body simply migrated into the hallway in a big clump, trying to squeeze every second out of the once-a-year Halloween party. It seemed as if nothing could stop the fun everybody was having.

And then abruptly, it did all stop.

"THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE."

Written in stark red, each letter a foot high along the wall.

It was more effective than if Peeves had emptied all the icy water of the lake on the entire student body.

"Hogwarts: A History" hadn't spoken in length about it, but the incidents from 50 years ago had appeared in that voluminous text. Grey Lady hadn't spoken much about the incidents either, but between the two of them, Sakura knew all she needed to. 50 years ago, somebody claiming to be the Heir of Slytherin had opened the Chamber of Secrets. The events of that year culminated with the death of an unnamed student and the expulsion of another. If somebody else had dared to open the mythical chamber, it could bode no good.

Syaoran gave Sakura a comforting squeeze of the hand.

Standing right below the sign was Harry Potter. He didn't have any paint with him, but if he had his wand, that didn't mean anything. His guilty look said it all. The look of fear that both Hermione and Ron had only added to the obvious conclusion.

"Enemies of the Heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!" some voice from the front of the crowd shouted out, cutting through the silence and raising the foreboding of the group to a fever pitch.

Sakura turned to look at Syaoran, who had a scowl on his face. He turned to face Sakura as well. His movement caught Sakura's attention. More exactly, his tie did. His green tie. A chill went down Sakura's back. The Heir of Slytherin. The colors of Slytherin were green. All of a sudden, the flippant comments from the beginning of the year about her dream being related to the Slytherin house seemed much more ominous.

Syaoran followed Sakura's gaze until he was looking at his own tie. He then pulled Sakura forward into a tight hug, and whispered to her, "Don't worry. I'll protect you."

Sakura could only return the hug.

"What's going on here? What's going on?" the raspy voice of Mr. Filch asked, as he pushed his way forward through the crowd. When he got to the front, he shouted, "My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris?"

Sakura looked over at the evolving scene. She hadn't even noticed at first, but after Mr. Flich's accusation it was impossible not to see the cat hanging by its tail from a torch bracket.

Mr. Filch then immediately turned to Harry and accused, "You! You! You've murdered my cat! You've killed her! I'll kill you! I'll -"

"Argus!" the commanding voice of Professor Dumbledore interrupted. Unlike Mr. Filch, who had had to force his way through the crowd, the crowd naturally parted to allow Professor Dumbledore to come forward. In his wake, a small group of teachers followed just behind.

As if it were the most common occurrence of the day, Professor Dumbledore detached the cat from the torch bracket. He then commanded, "Come with me, Argus. You, too, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger."

"My office is nearest, Headmaster - just upstairs - please feel free -" Professor Lockhart quickly offered.

"Thank you, Gilderoy," Dumbledore said, and then led the named people back through the mass of students. The crowd once again naturally parted to allow them to pass.

Left to its own devices, the crowd once again milled about aimlessly. Just like five minutes prior, nobody wanted to return to their dorm rooms. However, unlike the fevered excitement from before, the reason behind this hesitation was much less blithe.

Nobody wanted to be alone.

* * *

Temporary Author's Note:

The first thing I should mention is that I've had what I think is my first noticeable retcon in this story. Two chapters ago, back when Luna had incidentally revealed Peeves's fear of Sakura, I tweaked the end of that section. She still says it, but nobody takes notice. I originally had this modest plot thread of people in Ravenclaw asking Sakura to be escorted around everywhere (which would have interrupted Anthony's attempts to get her alone this chapter), and this would evolve once the Heir of Slytherin was revealed to be general panic and everybody taking caravans everywhere. However, I changed that for two reasons. The first is that if Luna did cause so much trouble for Sakura, it's hard to imagine her incidentally inviting the girl around to do things. The second is that that larger plot point just didn't quite work. There weren't very many larger implications for it (it was just a random event this chapter), and overall it doesn't fit the ambiance of Hogwarts. I went back and checked canon, and everybody was fairly blaise for most of the year, despite there being a mortal threat hanging around... Ehh... I'm not sure I agree with it but it is canon, so the idea of caravans all year doesn't fit anymore. Anyway, I reworked that scene ending with Luna, reworked this scene with Anthony, and he we have it.

With that out of the way, wow. I got a fairly large number of reviews last chapter. Huzzah! Thank you everybody who wrote one. I wanted to get this chapter out a bit faster as a thank you, but alas I was unable to get this chapter out before now. (Actually this chapter could probably use one or two more revisions, but delaying it further would be a pretty shoddy thing to do in return for all those reviews... just keep in mind same caveat as last chapter.) A special thank you to people who pointed out typos or otherwise pointed out thoughts or suggestions about how to improve things. And for you guests for whom I haven't been able to reply to, rest assured that I am reading what you write and appreciate the feedback as well.

As an example of pushing things out "too quickly," I completely forgot to mention last chapter about trying to retcon Gray Lady. Gray Lady had been a bit insular but nice... and then canon Harry Potter shows her being rather frigid and untrusting. Oops... I figured I'd try to retcon that by showing her being nice to Ravenclaws (such as Luna knowing about her and her secrets) but shunning everybody else (hence Harry's troubles with her). Maybe it worked, or maybe it didn't. That was the idea, though.

Now, on to this chapter. For those of you who've been around since the beginning of this story, you probably already know what I'm going to say here. This was where some of the details of the dream were supposed to have been added. Some details about how she died, and a figure appearing with a couple of details which looked conclusive but were still ambiguous were to start showing up. Yeah, that's gone now. Moving on...

So I'm a bit behind where I wanted to be. Maybe 1-2 chapters behind the pace I had originally outlined. As I've said in the past, the timeline of "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" is just awkward. If the chamber had been opened back in September/early-October, the dueling club had happened shortly afterward, and the Polyjuice Potion adventure had happened late-1992, it'd make things so much easier to pace. Alas the heavy whip of canon. For that matter, I hadn't realized when I started exactly how late in the book the titular events of "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" began. Oh well. I've had to shuffle things around a bit and push a lot of things to 1993. There will probably end up being a couple of extra chapters with the coming of the new year. We'll see what happens.

Also, of course Halloween was a Saturday. It seems like these named dates, like Valentine's Day in "Sakura and the Scottish School of Magic," are always on a day I don't like. Oh well. It's not the end of the world. It just meant I had to figure out something which would fill the time throughout the day. I guess it's appropriate given my above comment about needing to move plot points around due to timing of canon.

Of course, Harry didn't do anything wrong here. But he still looked guilty. There's a reason for that. Sakura (and the general student body) has no reason to think anything other than Harry and crew did it, and perception is everything. Perception is everything. This isn't the first time nor the last time that "reality" didn't match "portrayal" for better or worse.

To elaborate a bit on that scene with Sakura and Keroberos helping Luna locate her shoes and finding some "nargles," I'm of the opinion that Luna in canon is more open-minded (maybe naive) than most characters. That's the reason she believes in all those creatures (among other things). Maybe many of her open-minded ideas are true (which goes back to the "stuffy and overly-traditional Western Magic paradigm"), but not everything. She must have gotten the idea wrackspurts/etc somewhere, and then persists in her comments about them because she hasn't had any conclusive evidence they don't exist. As for the "nargles," if it wasn't clear the intent I was trying to portray was that some students were making fun of her. The had stolen her shoes and then invented an imaginary creature. However, coincidentally some strange creatures found the shoes so Luna and Sakura (mistakenly?) put two-and-two together.

In regard to Luna and Sakura getting together, I have mixed feelings about that. It had been one of my intentions coming in to this story, and I had plotted it out to happen. Maybe not precisely here (see above commentary about pacing), but somewhere. The idea is that Sakura affected the Harry Potter continuity in hidden ways, such as preventing Luna from leaving the school prior to her making friends with Ginny, which would have drastically affected the events of the second half of the Harry Potter series. (Likewise with Luna knowing Gray Lady, as evidenced in Deathly Hallows, and some other things which will come up from time to time.) The more I think about it, though, the less convinced I am that I should have had this interaction between Luna and Sakura. It's another complexity which requires another leap of faith from the readers. Oh well. It's done now. If things are too awkward and it in fact doesn't ruin plot points for later, I may retcon it out. Who knows? Well see...

One thing which I had moved but ended up moving back was the confrontation between Syaoran and Peeves. I had pushed it to 1993, but then I ended up changing my mind and moving back to here where it had originally been planned. In fact I had originally thought of having Syaoran dress up as a priest of some kind for ceremonial purposes of ghost banishment, and having the Weasleys comment on the "wicked Halloween costume." However while that idea would be fun it didn't match the idea of Eastern Magic as portrayed thus far, so removed it. There are several reasons I like the Syaoran-Peeves confrontation here. Syaoran's personality is a bit more confrontational than Sakura's. There was a gap of things to do (see above statement about Halloween being on a Saturday) and this helped fill it. I also don't want this story to 100% parallel "Sakura and the Scottish School of Magic." The timing works too, as the introduction of the Heir of Slytherin would certainly overshadow *everything* else which is happening in the school. Overall, it worked out fairly nicely.

(Also, I do know about the troubles with a spirit as portrayed in the first Cardcaptor Sakura movie, and I'm going to say that the reason Syaoran and the Li family couldn't deal with her was that they didn't know what they were dealing with until too late, and that she was an exceptionally strong spirit.)

Finally, so the deal with Anthony should be starting to become clear... maybe... I know at least some readers have "gotten it."

Whew, a lot of Temporary Author's Notes this time. Anyway, that's another chapter out. As I said at the (almost) start, thank you very much for everybody who wrote a review. It's very encouraging to see all of them, and I love hearing what people are thinking as they reading what I've written. A special thank you to people who offer suggestions of things to improve this story, such as ideas, highlighting typos, pointing out possible canon or character mis-portrayals, and other such things. I hope you enjoyed this latest chapter and I hope you stick around for the remainder of this story.

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Last Updated: September 26, 2013


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